SCALE-INSECTS. pti) 
jure, in every way, whether as regards ornamental or commercial 
value, a number of trees and plants on which the people of the 
country depend largely for subsistence or profit. In the South 
of France the olive industry has been in some years greatly cut 
down. In Florida, California, Australia, the Cape of Good 
Hope, oranges and apples have been so damaged that the value 
of an orchard or a grove has been reduced sometimes by 80 per 
cent. It may be said, moreover, that even in tropical countries 
the attacks of scale-insects are often most damaging: in Mauri- 
tius the sugar-cane and in Ceylon the coffee plantations have 
suffered from their ravages. The experience of American fruit- 
growers is certainly not to be despised, and the fact that both 
im California and Florida the people strain every nerve to get rid 
of the insect pests on open-air trees would seem to be distinctly 
against the notion that these little enemies can be neglected with 
impunity. 
Nor, indeed, can it be said that in New Zealand itself 
the attacks of scale-insects out-of-doors are harmless. Apple 
orchards throughout the country bear evidence to the contrary : 
lemon-groves can be seen about Auckland where, instead of the 
thousands of fruit formerly grown, a few stunted lemons are all 
that the withered trees afford; and nobody can glance round 
the plantations at Nelson or Napier without. recognizing the 
devastating powers of a scale-insect (Icerya). 
The opinion that Coccids are not likely to do much harm in 
the open air is therefore scarcely tenable, and it will be of use 
to inquire what remedies can be provided against them. 
There is a point, however, to be noted at the outset, and it 
is, that in reality there is not, as far as is yet known, any cer- 
tain remedy against scale-insects. Not that ingenuity and ex- 
periment have not succeeded in inventing plans and substances 
quite efficient in killing the insects when applied to them. It 
is easy enough to kill an insect when you can get at it, im most 
cases ; but the problem in this instance is not only to kill indi- 
vidual insects, but to do more. What is wanted is to get rid of 
whole communities of them, and, at the same time, to prevent 
their eggs from hatching and a new brood coming forth. Many 
of those who profess to know ali about destroying “ scale ””— 
especially if they belong to that class which prides itself wpon 
- being “ practical men ”’—being generally quite ignorant of the 
habits and life-history of the insects, are satisfied when they 
