Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-04-27


to the pOs,erior ventrsl portion of the body,
and sdheres some what to the twT. As the
eggs are protruded into the waxy mass the
posterior portion of the body is gradually
raised up until it often reaches an angle Of
forty five degrees with the bark The egg
laying continues until on into July, and, at
ter one or two Thousand eggs have been de-
posted, the female dies. 1t is almost always
within this period OF egg-laying thar the in-
| sect is noticed, on account OF its large size,
but more particularly from the conspicuous
| white cushion at the end OF its body. After
| the death OF the female her beak breaks of
| snd her body shrivels up, but remains at
| tached to the twig by the cottouy mass for
| long time often year or more.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
The Cottony Maple Scale is subject to the
| attacks of very much the same natural enc
mics as other scale-insects. A number OF
| predaceous beetles feed upon the eggs and
| young iarve. We have observed the common
lady bird, Chiiocorns biUutnerus, engaged in
this work, and also the Coccinelds Hyperd-
spis signata and II bigeminata. In addition
to these Putnam mentions Anatis l5-punctd-
ia, "the larva OF a species of Chrysopd.' and
| "the larvG OF two species OF ReSuyiid9."
rumna coccidUord a Comstock, was originally
bred from this bark-louse. Its larva con-
s,ruct tubular passages Of silk ard wax from
one Pulvnaria to another on a thickly in
tested branch, aud eat both the eggs and the
/ waxy iaments which surround them. This
insect and its curious habit were described at
| length by Professor Ccmstock in the annual
| report OF this Department for 1879, pp. 24l-
| 243, 1t has been found preying upon Pulvi-
maria only in the vicinity of Washington,
but in Florida destroys both II large Lecdnium
on magnolia, a Coccd allied to Ddctyiopius
and the common "Turtle-back scale" Lecd-
MUM heperidum).
Daring the past season, Miss Murtteldt has
noticed harvest mite in great numbers feed
ing on eggs Of this species at krkwood, Mo.
From specimens sent to the Department this
mite seems to belong to the genus Eupodes
and is allied to the European E. hiemaL,s. 1t
is very minute and pale redd sh-y yellow color.
The body is divided into four distinct seq
meuts, two Of which belong properly to the
abdomen, the last one being the largest, the
! FIRST the smallest, and the other two about
| equal in length. The division between the
last two segments is distinct, whilish, trans
verse line, while the others are indicated by
slight lateral iudentations and subdorsal i'm
pressions reaching to the lateral margin, of
the same pale color. This is probably the
same mi e noticed by Miss Smith, and men,
toned in her report previously cited.
| Two true parasites are known to intest this
scale. The first of these, Coccophagus lecanii
| (Fitch), is very common, and ordinarily in-
tests the scales in great numbers The adult
insect is a minute, black four-winged fly,
marked with crescent-shaped yellow patch in
| the middle of the body above. According q
Putnam, there are two broods OF this parasite
each season. the adults appearing in May and
August. The infested lice become more or
less inflated finally turning black and be-
coming rigid. The females are most COM
monty infested, though Putnam states that
he has bred the parasite from the male scale
The second parasite was bred by Mr.. Put
nam after the publication of his article and
was described by Mr. Howard in his paper on
the parasites OF Coccids Ann. Repi. Dept OF
Ayr, 1880, p. 1863 as Aphyeus puicinarie.
This species seems to be rare aud has not
been bred since. 1t is minute, dull yellow in
color, with dusky abdomen and with an.
tenna vurieeated with brown and white.
REMEDIES.
The principal remedies which have been
proposed in the past are, briefly, heaCing in
| the tree, j. e., cutting OFF the branches and
drenchiug with a solution OF whale-gi soap
or | per cent. solution OF csrbolc acid.
During the last season, however, we have
recommended nothing but kerosene emu
sions, aud these will undoubtedly give better
satisfaction than anything else that can be
used. The best time for spraying the trees
will be while the young are Matching, late in
May or early in June, and the apparatus de-
sctibed in the article on the Cottonwood
Beetle can be used to the same advantage
here.
This Is from the pen of c, V. Riley, Chief
of Bureau Of Entomology, Department Of
Agriculture.
We append full directions for making
and using kerosene emulsions.
1t cannot be too strongly impressed upon
all who use kerosene as an insecticide, that it
can be considered safe remedy only when
properly emulsfed. The formula for the
kerosene and soap emulsion, as found most
satisfactory by Mr.. Hubbard, is as follows:
Kerosene gallsnss7 per cent
Common soap, or whale II
...:....................M pound 90
"ater....""..".........".. / gallon 30 per cent
Heat the solution of soap aud add it boil
| ing hot to the kerosene. Churn the mixture
by means OF force pump and spray nozzle
Tor hive or ten minutes The emulsion, it
perfect, forms cream. which thickens on
cooling, and should adhere without oilness
to the surface of glass. Dilute, be fore using,
one part Of the emulsion with nine parts OF
cold water. The above formula gives three
gallons OF emulsion, and makes, when d.
luted, thirty gallons Of WASH
The Kerosene and soap mixture especially
when the latter is warmed, forms upon very
| moderate agitation, an apparent union but
the mixture is not stable, and separates on
standing or when cooled or diluted only up.
on violent agitation. Ii is formed no: grad
ually, but suddenly; in short, to use IA
milliar phrase, at comes" like butter. The
time required in churning depends some
what upon the violence OF the agitation, but
still more upon the temperature, which,
however, need not be much above blood
heat.
When obtained, an emulsion of kerosene
and soap is known by the perfect union of
the Ingredients, and the absence of oiliness, so
that the liquid clings TO the surface of glass
or metal. IL resembles rich cream more or
less thlckened accordingto the proportion Of
soap used in the mixture.
These details have been fully set forth in
previous reports, but 1t seems necessary to
again refer to them, because, while the value
OF the kerosene emulsions as insecticides has
been widely acknow lodged, the importan,
point OF thorough emulsifcation has not b en-
sufficiently recognized, aad the agricultural
press OF the country in the discussion OF this
new application OF an old medy have very
generally omitted 10 mention the noa,b,,a, b.,