226 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 16 
This species has been observed by the writer at Yokohama, Okitsu, 
Kobe, Moji and Nagasaki, as well as at Oji, the type locality, and its 
distribution therefore covers the entire range of the citrus belt in the 
main islands of Japan. The favored host plant is P'trifoliata , though it 
has also been observed upon the pomelo and the Unshu orange. In no 
instance has the scale been found in large numbers, in fact only isolated 
individuals can be found upon the last named hosts. The life history and 
habits as observed are identical with those of the species in California. 
While the wide distribution in the citrus growing districts of Japan 
indicate that it is a long established species, yet there is doubt as to 
whether this is its native home. Most, if not all, of the species and 
varieties of citrus in Japan, with the exception of the naval orange, have 
come from the Asiatic mainland, though dating back some three hundred 
years or more. Consequently it will be necessary to study the repre¬ 
sentatives of the genus from continental Asia before this point can be 
finally determined. The California infestation may with reasonable 
certainty be considered as of Oriental origin. 
Scientific Notes 
Liponyssus bacoti Hirst. A mite that heretofore has not been recorded from 
Maryland and which has been determined by Dr. Ewing as the above caused the 
•employees of an umbrella factory to threaten to leave unless the mites were eradi¬ 
cated. Help was asked of this department and an examination by Mr. Sanders dis¬ 
closed the mites in the cloth and scraps. They were crawling rapidly about over 
the goods and they readily attacked the employees, causing a swelling like that 
produced by the chigger. The second floor, occupied by a pants maker was slightly 
infested but the first and fourth floors which were kept fairly clean were uninfested. 
This was on January 24, 1923 and on February 16, 1923, after a commercial rat ex¬ 
termination company had been at work for several weeks, the mites had entirely 
disappeared. Ernest N. Cory, State Entomologist, University of Maryland. 
Powder-post beetles (Lyctus spp.) and Automobiles. The work of powder-post 
beetles in well seasoned wood is somewhat common and turns up in many unex¬ 
pected situations. One of the latest is a complaint of the work of these beetles 
accompanied by injury to upholstering in one of the high priced, popular makes of 
automobiles. There have been in recent years several reports of powder-post beetle 
work in the trim of apartment houses in New York City. Th e trouble in every case has 
been due to the use of sapwood. This should be treated with some preservative 
before being incorporated into a costly building or an expensive machine because 
there is no very satisfactory method of handling the problem later, aside from the 
use of heat, and this simply kills the insects in the wood and does not prevent re¬ 
infestation. 
E. P. Felt 
