The Gloomy Scale 
13 
of the female for from 24 to 48 hours, although some remain much 
longer than this. Usually during the height of the breeding season, 
anywhere from one to ten active young may be found under each 
female. These usually fare forth after a time, crawling about on the 
limbs and branches of the trees until a convenient location is found. 
When such a location is found they attach themselves by inserting their 
beaks and sucking the sap. This active period is usually of short dura¬ 
tion, averaging about one hour in the specimens studied. As a general 
proposition these active young do not travel far, although if conditions 
are unfavorable they may travel a considerable distance. Usually the 
young scales settle within a foot of their mother. This leads to great 
crowding of the scale, and results in the death of many, due to the red¬ 
headed fungus. Those that leave their mother for anv distance travel 
towards the tips of the branches, where they settle for the most part in 
the axils of the leaf in the new growth. This insect would be much 
more destructive than it is if all the young adopted this method of 
attacking the young growth, for they would not be so crowded, hence 
fewer would die; and what is perhaps of greater importance, the young 
tip twigs would be killed. 
The greatest measured distance that young scales have traveled for 
us is 56 inches, measured as a straight line. This young scale was re¬ 
moved from under its mother and placed on a young maple tree out of 
doors. The scale was liberated near the base of the tree and crawled up¬ 
ward and outward on a limb, near the top of the tree. ATo account was 
taken of the innumerable turnings and twistings of this young, but the 
distance measured as a straight line was about 56 inches. It is safe to 
say that the real distance traveled was about 100 inches (2500 mm.) in 
three hours, or an average of more than 8,000 times its own length in an 
hour. Usually, however, the young find a satisfactory location and 
settle within a few inches of their mothers. It is not unusual to find 
an adult female, with a ring of young scale around her. Frequently 
the active scales crawl under old male scales or dead female scales and 
settle there. It is not unusual to find as high as three generations over¬ 
lapping each other in this way. It is of interest to note that these scales 
underneath other scales are grayish white in color, showing that light is 
required to develop the characteristic color of the adult scale. It is not 
unusual for young scale to settle on the dorsal scales of other individuals. 
And while their mouth parts cannot reach the bark in this position, they 
frequently secrete a dorsal and ventral scale covering and molt the first 
time, after which they die. This shows that the young carry enough 
food and energy to develop to a remarkable extent, although deprived of 
food. In the laboratory we have not been able to keep the young active 
for more than forty-eight hours without food. Apparently their ener¬ 
gies are all used up in aimless endeavors to escape from their cages. 
Soon after settling and inserting the beak, the active young contracts 
its antennae and legs and the body contracts until it is almost circular in 
