127 
THE COTTONY MAPLE-SCALE. 
(Pulvinaria innumerabilis Rath. ) 
™ During the first half of the summer, many kinds of trees, but 
most frequently the maples and box-elders, are seen to be in- 
fested with the above scale. Upon their branches small tufts 
of white cottony matter can be seen, which, when touched, are 
found to be sticky, drawing out and clinging to the finger like 
a spider-web.* This material is the egg-mass of the cottony 
maple-scale. By investigating more closely, at one end may 
be seen a brown or black, saddle-shaped, leathery disk, about 
one-eighth of an inch in diameter, usually bearing some 
wrinkles on its back. This disk is the body of the insect which 
secreted the white mass of fibres containing from 1,000 to 2,000 
small pink eggs. The young lice emerge from the eggs dur- 
ing the late part of June or early in July, and are quite active 
for a time, running about freely and may at that period be 
carried from place to place by various means. Soon, how- 
ever, they settle down and insert their long thread-like beaks 
in the soft bark or leaves of the plant. The body of the scale- 
louse is soft and quite flat, clinging closely to the surface of the 
tree, and so closely resembling it as to be almost indistinguish- 
able from it. A waxy and water-proof coat is gradually 
formed over its skin. The male is considerably smaller than 
the female, and in a few weeks ceases to grow, becomes 
stationary and changes to a pupa inside the larval skin, which 
is covered with a thick coat of wax. The males emerge in Aug- 
ust or September, and after having copulated, soon die. The 
fertilized females, however, continue to grow until autumn, 
when they migrate to the twigs and remain dormant over 
winter. In the spring their bodies become convex and the 
eggs arerapidly developed. These are laid from the middle of 
May or the first of June till into July. 
Fig. 65 on plate 16 illustrates this insect. 
Remedies. 
Kerosene-emulsion diluted with water in the proportion of 
one part of the emulsion to about fifteen of water, is the most 
_ effective remedy and should be applied late in May or early in 
*The English sparrow, besides its other bad qualities, is in the habit of utilizing 
this cottony maple-scale to line its nest. In doing so the insect is carried about from 
park to park, and new trees are constantly being infested by this means. 
