The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-08-09
OF INTEREST TO ORCHARDIO7S.
Insects that are to Rid Their Trees o
Destructive Pests.
Albert Koebele Tells of the Results of
His Researches in Australia
The Various Bugs Secured.

Albert Koebele of Alameda, the student
in economic entomology, whose return
home from Australia after a year of re-
search and investigation on behalf Of the
State Horticultural Bureau was noted the
other day, has in his possession, says the
EcGnli3eeT, large number of bugs and
insects that he hopes to successfully
colombo in California, and if his expecta-
tons are realized the scale pests will
have enemies so formidable as to reduce
their ravages to the minimum and save
to the California fruit-growers many
thousands OF dollars annually. Koebele
is an enthusiast. In appearance he is
small, pallid-faced energetic German,
who is known to fame as the discoverer
of the vedalia, a beneficial insect that has
done much good in preying upon the
enemies Of the fruit trees. He watches
over his bugs as if they were the most
precious of earthly possessions, and his
friends Familiarity speak OF him as the
Alameda bugologist."
The gentleman thinks that in the OrcuS
AuStratGSIe and the OrcuS chaty6eUS, two
specimens of his bugs, and many of
which he brought with him on his return
home, he has found a resistleSS enemy to
Iile Icu scale Oh the ciLfuS trees dub llt
green aphiS of the apple. He is confident
they will become acclimated in time, and
will be very successful in decreasing the
red scale pest, so as to put an end, prac-
| tically, to the big financial loss that the
citrus fruit-growers have suffered from
it. Both are species Of the c0cc51letttdCe,
and are of a beautiful steel blue color
with bright red spots.
He says that the egg of the OrcuS 4AuS-
traLdSie is yellow in color and oval in
shape, and is found attached to the sur
| face of leaves at their broadcast end in
numbers as high as fifty. The fully de-
veloped larva has an elongated form,
with six rows of feshy spines covered
with long hairs. In color it is black,
with whitish line extending its entire
length, of about quarter of an inch.
Before changing to the pupa the iarva eX
udes an adhesive fluid by means Of which
it attaches itself by the tail to stem or
| leaf, and then contracts its length and in
creases in girth. In probably fifteen
| hours the pupa becomes encaSed in the
! skin of the larva, and assumes red-yel-
low color with three rows Of large black
! spots. In from eight to twelve days the
perfect insect in all its beauty of color
| makes its appearance, and becomes a
| bold and aggressive warrior in the insect
| kingdom.
| The OrcuS chalybeuS goes through the
same strange and fascinating change of
! form and color, and is a smaller insect.
! But, If smaller, it is mono the less
most effective enemy of the scale pests,
destroying thousands of them in its
successful struggle OF the survival
of the fttest." The sterner sex of
these insects, as well as of the
| frst-named, have more yellow coloring
than the female, and are distinguished
from the latter by the yellow sides of the
prothorax.
LeiS confolwais is the name of another
variety of Mr.. koebele's beneficial bugs
or insects. 1t belongs to the same family
as the two already described. 1t can be
| said to have an amending hatred of the
orange aphis or red scale, for it preys I'M
ceasingly on it, SO that it may be said that
in the bright lexicon" of its insect vo-
cabulary there is no such word or phrase
as pity for the aphis. 1t has the same
pretty, coloring OF the orcnS specimens
named above, but, unlike them, its larva
has small fleshy projections instead of
! hairy spines. Like the others, however, it
is about the quarter of an inch in length.
| A victorious conquerOr OF the black
scale is the ThdtpocdreS cOccophagd, num-
bers Of which insect the gentleman has
gathered in Australia. They have such
fondneSS for the black scale that once on
tree infested by the latter they soon de-
YOUR them and s'long for other worlds to
conquer" 1t is small insect, or moth.
with big wings and with most wondrous
blending of pale yellowish brown,
gray, white and red colors, the head be-
ing of the former color, the body gray
and white and the wings red and brown
ish gray and yellowish white. The har-
mony of color is a study to delight the
artist.
Koebele has other varieties that prey
successfully on the red and black scales,
such as various species of Scynl7li{dS and
Tbez0tiUS, which he intends naming and
describing, and a moth named ChdLpo-
choTeS cocciptdgd, which preys so sue
cessfully on the black scale in Australia
as to render it comparatively harmless.
In all of his researches the gentleman
has acted on the theory that the scale
| pests and aphides that live at the expense
Of fruits, crops and flowers must have
their natural enemies in the insect king
dom, which, if properly selected and ac-
climated here in sufficiently large num-
bers will, by subsisting on them, keep
! the scales and aphides in almost complete
check. He thinks the insects he has col
lected will fully answer the purpose by
the time they have been sufficiently prop
| agated, because both in their larval and
| fully developed states they have most
voracious appetite for the scale pests,
| their whole existence, as it We're, being
one hungry search for young and old
and lean and fat scale insects and aphides.
For this reason he thinks his trip has
been most successful one, and says that
he found his work of searching for these
miniature cannibals most fascinating
| one.
SURPRISED KNIGHT.