195 
now, for some years, been looked upon as extinct at Napier, bat Icerya hav- 
ing appeared at Wellington (the capital), the government have directed 
Mr. Wight to procure the inevitable Vedalia cardinalis, and he finds 
that it is to be had again at Napier in such numbers that, to use Mr. 
Commissioner Harding's expression, as many can now be procured by 
a good collector as Mr. Koebele obtained, in the same time. Mr. Koebele 
caught 6,000 in three days, and, even considering that Mr. Koebele is a 
most exceptionally good collector, there does not seem much fear of 
the useful little insects becoming extinct. A very long experience, and 
much close observation of these two insects, enabled Mr. Wight to 
observe some interesting and useful facts connected with them. On 
one occasion, when he was engaged for several weeks among them, 
collecting and taking notes, he found a wide, straggling hedge of Acacia 
undulata, several miles long, at one end of which a very few Vedalia 
had been introduced and had increased at a rate that he would not 
like to ask anyone to believe. Where they had first been liberated all 
the scales were gone and all the ovisacs empty; in some cases the mother 
scale had died naturally and the young larvse escaped, but nearer, 
where the invading army had swept on, it was observable that in 
nearly every ovisac which had been plundered there still remained a 
very few of the eggs, these being invariably situated under the body 
of the scale mother, and, instead of being merely covered by the cot- 
tony ovisac, were imbedded in the fluff. These eggs being sx)ared 
accounts for the survival of the pest, and the reason of their being 
spared was afterwards explained when some hungry Vedalia were 
offered Dactylopius scales and could not eat them because the fluff 
entangled their jaws. It was also observed that where there were 
patches of untouched ovisacs the female Vedalia laid eggs, either touch- 
ing the terminal portion of the covering or slightly lifted it and inserted 
them under it. The idea occurred to Mr. Wight that in this way the 
Vedalia had most probably been introduced naturally into iNew Zea- 
land, and, acting upon it, he collected some of these impregnated ovisacs 
(a tedious process), and also increased the number by confining impreg- 
nated female beetles, and tried the experiment of shipping them to the 
Cape of Good Hope, where they fortunately arrived alive and had the 
honor of being the first live Vedalia introduced into that country (April, 
1892). The circumstance is mentioned here, as it may be a useful hint 
to the entomologists wishing to send live Vedalia to a great distance, in 
a hot climate, which is not a very easy thing to do successfully. 
This paper was briefly discussed by Mr. Riley. 
The following paper was then read : 
