Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-08-06

mate, certain OF discovering IN that
time the works Of our desideuratums.
To add to his miDts, after many
months Of prolonged silence amongst
MS, he takes his pen and boasts In insults
against me and comes out with ento-
biological invention and hangs to the
insec!s-a tuberical with tree pumps,
that threatens to absorb the last drop of
sap of our miserable orange trees.
/ am afraid that if the many gentle
men that the county and city are feed
ing on scale bugs, take notice of this
great discovery 1t willincrease themouths
or pumps to the number of seven. and
present to the country q species of
medusg entomologica, with q golden
fleece 10 prospective.
After this introduction, l will enter
now fully on the chronological arga-
ment by quoting q few paragraphs of
Mr.. Coquollet's communication.
Upon removing one Of the nearly
grown Insects which we find crawling
about the tree and examining the under
side Of its body under high magnifyipg
power we find black tubercle situated
between the first two pairs of legs, and
from the apex of THIS tubercle issues
three slender bristles, which comprise
the beak Of the insect, by means Of which
its food is obtained.
If, now, we loosen each of the feet of
one Of these insects situated upon the
under side Of the branch of a tree, we
And that instead of falling to the ground
II is still attached to the tree; and by
examining closely with the lens. we find
that the organ OF attachment is the beak
described above, which is inserted into
the bark Of the tree.
/ say into the bark, because If we
scrape away the fungus with sharp
knife we find that the beak Of the insect
passes entirely through this fungus
growth and enters the bark itself.
The existence Of this tree pump tuber-
Gle must emphatically deny. And my
microscopical observations, made in one
one Of the best instruments to be had in
Los Angeles, through the kindness Of
DR.. Laux IT,, confirms me once more
that there is not such q tree-pump tuber-
Gle; what is then in the posterior part of
the rostrum or snout of the insect are
few bristles, like the enes we find all
around the border of the body and the
back part Of the abdomen. Now if we
raise one of the insects up by the back
part of the cushion, the first thing we
see Is, under the animal, part Of the
cushion laying snugly attached to the
bark Of the tree. Next We find entirely
disclosed the breast, and between the
legs the rostrum Of the animal perfectly
free from the tree. Yet the animal Is
attached, whereby; not by the famous
tubercle, nor the bristles attached to it,
but instead by the part Of the cushion
attached to the back, where the antDe
are attached too, and some Of the
front bristles fixed through this cushion,
and when we have detached sufficiently
10 break the anten@ it still remains at
tached by the cotton to the bark.
Now, that cotton back does not CON-
mence, as is generally believed, at the
back part of the animal, but is found
around the borders. Thus the animal
lies fiat on this cotton, and the mouth,
legs and body are attached to it, and not
to the bark Of the tree directly.
That cushion V Dramatically closed,
during the time Of laying, with gum
substance inside, full Of albumina, prob
ably the food or part Of it, for the little
insects while hasohine and growing, till
they have developed sufficient strength
to perforate the bag and make their
exit.
At this stage Of the growth, the fe-
males spread all through the tree, and
are at this time impregnated by the
males. They are very active.
The male is less than half the size Of
the female and unlike it, Is devoid Of
nutrative apparatus; it has long white
wings, and q body Of deeper color than
the female, terminated by two diverging
sets of legs.-Signoret in the Am. Soc.
Ent, fFrance) 1868, "a.
Bununster, the famous German ento.
mologist, in his Hand Buch 6u Ento-
molg,p Vlcent, the well known Spanish
Monk in his Analiss Scientific Naturalis
lvol. VIII, first series in the american
Journal Of Pharmacy, all classify the
oottony cushion scales Jas wild cochineal
and treat OF them at the same time.
The American journal of Pharmacy
xviII. AZ, after describing the cochi-
neal in the form OF commerce and call.
ing it Silver grains and Black Grains,
speaks as follows Of the Iseria;
Another and much inferior variety is
the qrana syluestra. or wild cochineal,
consisting partly Of very small separate
insects, partly Of rounded or oval mass
es which exhibit minute and apparently
new. born insects, inclosed in q white or
reddish cotton-like substance. Accord
ing to Pulitzer and Taunton, who made
The chemical analysis of them, 1t con-
sists of peculiar cploring principle,
peculiar animal matter. constituting the
skeleton Of the insect, steam, olein, an
odorous fatty acid aud various salts.
Tyrosin, crystallisable animal prin-
ciple has been found by La Rue.
Never has the oochineal killed any Of
the trees upon which 1t breeds, and SO
the orange tree is not going to be the ex.
ception. The leaves are not punctured
by the iseria. nor show the yellow spot
that the black and red scale make on
the parts OF the tree where they prey.
In very near all the trees where the
iseria is the red scale and the black
more SO infest the trees badly. And the
cotton caused by the fungus (Dmashi-
mum Uionopkiinns) spread over the
leaves, stem and fruit.
Is not that one Of the orange trees
drawbacks? The conditions of locality,
sub-soil and cultivation, have they no.
thing TO do with iti Riverside, that
boasts Of no SCALE, has very sickly trees.
Why is it that young trees, badly in.
tested, grow luxnriantly and bear well
for their age? Simply because they
have not exhausted the plant food, and
the roots have not crowded the ground
yet. At the end OF his article Mr.. Co.
outlet admits that in rich grounds the
trees do not show such decay,
Then bySNll means enrich the soil. Keep
the ground we'll stirred up on the surface
in circle around the trunk. Manure
we'll within this circle with well retted
manure, combined with muriate or sui
phAte OF potash. or use guano or any
other highly ammoniated phosphate.
Watch the TAP roots Of old trees, that
they may not reach hard pan and deadly
sand bottom. And In planting new trees
give them thirty feet OF space. and
change the usuai prooess Of cultivation
II you desire centuary trees do not ex-
pect them from seedlings or budded ones
on sweet seedlings.