THE ASIATIC-LAJDYBIKD ENEMY OF THE SCALE. 
65 
THE ASIATIC-LADYBIRD ENEMY OF THE SAX JOSE SCALE. 
Thruout the region investigated in China and Japan (see pp. 11-15), 
wherever the San Jose scale occurred, apparently the chief natural 
agency in keeping it in check was a small ladybird, Chilocorus similis 
Rossi (figs. 11. 12, and PL VII), which feeds upon the scale vora- 
ciously. This beetle is almost identical in appearance with the twice- 
stabbed ladybird of this country, Chilocorus lividnerus, in the adult 
stage, but in the larval stage differs from it distinctly in coloration. 
Fig. 11. — Asiatic ladybird (Chilocorus similis), oviposition and early larval stages: a, beetle in act of 
thrusting egg beneath scale; b, scale slightly raised, showing edge of egg beneath; c, scale lifted 
from bark, showing manner of attachment of egg to the inner surface; d, view of egg in the scale; 
e, egg magnified to show sculpturing; /, three eggs placed under flap of bark; g, same, natural size; 
h, i, dorsal and lateral views of newly hatched larva; j, larva, first stage, feeding on mature and 
young scales. All enlarged except g (author's illustration). 
The Asiatic species has a skin of a reddish or flesh tint, with black 
spines, while the general color of the larva of the native species is a 
dull gray, which, with black spines common to both, gives the latter a 
very much darker appearance. There are also certain minute struc- 
tural characters which can be made out only with the use of the 
microscope. There is, furthermore, a very distinct difference in the 
habits of the two species, the Asiatic ladybird going through an indefi- 
nite number of generations — four or five annually, depending upon 
the climate and latitude — and the American species having much fewer 
