18 BULLETIN 647, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
quent occurrence of living soft scales or of remains indicating that 
such had occupied these shelters is evidence that they generally were 
built while the ants were attending these scales and had no relation 
to the armored scales which they covered. 
The forced conclusion is that any protection afforded the armored 
scales by the ants must be incidental and due merely to their pres- 
ence on the trees and their very manifest habit of attempting to 
prey upon all insects not supplying honeydew with which they come 
in contact. For this protection to be so effective as to be of great 
economic importance the scales must have enemies so efficient as 
usually to keep them greatly reduced. The fact is, however, that 
these scales are not kept under reasonable control by their enemies, 
even in orchards where there are no ants. 
Parasites and Peedatoes of the Aemoeed Scales of Citrus in Louisiana. 
Although there was not time for a thorough study of the enemies 
of the armored scales of citrus in Louisiana, great batches of scale 
material from ant-free orchards have failed to produce more than a 
sprinkling of internal parasites. The more common hymenopterous 
parasites, reared from purple and chaff scale material selected because 
of the frequency of exit holes, were Aspidiotiphagus citrinus Craw, 
and Coccophagus jlavoscutellum Ashm. 1 A small black lady-beetle, 2 
Hyperaspis signata Oliv., with wing covers marked with a spot of 
red about the middle of each, feeds upon these scales to some extent, 
and a still smaller ladybeetle, ficymmis puncticollis Lee, is suspected 
of it. Larvae, pupae, and adults of a large coccinellid, Chilocorus 
bivulnerus Muls., frequently are found in large numbers upon trees 
overrun by ants, and a minute black species, Microweisia misella 
Lee., 3 also often occurs on some of the trees by the hundreds. Both 
of these insects are suspected of feeding upon the early stages of the 
armored scales, but neither of them seems to be deterred greatly by 
the ants. At all events, they are found in considerable numbers on 
trees infested by the ants. 
Influence of the Ant on Abundance of Armored Scales in Louisiana. 
In addition to prolonged field observations on the relations of the 
ants to the armored scales, experiments were conducted for the same 
purpose by excluding the ants from certain trees and noting the 
effect of their presence or absence on the scales. Thus the ants were 
excluded from one of two vigorous young orange trees having an 
approximately equal infestation of the purple scale and allowed free 
access to the other. Notes were made at intervals on the number of 
1 Identifications by Dr. L. O. Howard. 
* Identified by Mr. E. A. Schwarz. 
•Identified by Mr. H. S. Barber. 
