Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-13
Mr.. ALBERT KOEBELRS BUGS.
The Coleoptera Do Not Prove
Much Of a Success.
The Horticultural Commission In
vestigates the Parasites.
The Orcus Chalybeus not Up to the Ac
tivity of the vedaiia-A Visit to
the Various. O.. .Ionies Es-
tablishtd Here.

Yesterday horticultural Commissions
~er Scott, Professor Coquillett, Messrs.
.Compere and Mcmillan, of the horti-
cultural commission, paid a visit to the
ranches of three gentlemen in this vicin-
ity, where there are colonies of the orcus
.chaly new parasites which
were sent from Australia by Albert Koe-
belle. ts4
Tt was Mr.. Koebele's confident expec-
station thatthis newly imported parasite
would at once proceed to wipe up
the earth with the red
and black scale, but the in
vestigation made yesterday does not
Justify this expectation, and the new
parasite might as we'll be shelved. On
January 23d Professor Coquillett placed
in the orange orchard of A. F. Kerche-
val, south Of this city. 325 orcus cha
lybeus, on February Goth eight more,
and on april 10th he added q more.
All these were placed on lemon tree
in Mr.. Kercheval's 8 orchard, and yester-
day the party above mentioned visited
this orchard. They found only few,
hardly dozen, of the steel blue beetles,
q few eggs aud several pupae in the
trees. With colony of 800 beetles and
seven months time the orchard, which
is thickly infested with red and black
scale, should have been thoroughly pop
ulated with the new parasite. OF the
eighty-two additional beetles which
were placed on an infected tree enclosed
in canvas tent in January, not SOL
itary one could be found. An examina-
tion of the few beetles discovered, in
.dicated that they attack the red and
black scale in their infantile stages.
There is a marked contrast between
the steel blue beetle and the vedalia
cardinals, which made such terrific
and successful warfare on the white
scale. The latter parasite at once made
itself at home, and went to work propa-
eating Immediately on being released.
They increased enormously, and soon
q cleaned out the white scale. The few
served yesterday, were languid and slug
gish in their movements, and were
found on trees that were covered with
red and black scale. In fact, the
!, local beetle, popularly known as
"Twice Stabbed" seemed to be
F. doing better work than his
imported brother. They nimbly cir
culated over the leaves and ruthlessly
slaughtered old and young of the red
and black scale. On the original lemon
tree where the largest colony of steel
blue beetles were placed, two deposits
of the new beetles'egg were discovered,
one containing ten and the other eight
eggs, as shown under the magnifief. 1t
is certain there is some serious him
a-drance tothe propagation OF these beetles
in Southern California. Perhaps there
may be something in difference in the
humidity of this section and Austria
liza, the rainfall there being usually 40
to so inches per annum, and water is
. effectual in Keeping down the population
of red and black scale to certain
degree. There is also the possibility
that Mr.. Koebele, fushed with enthusi-
astic fervor arising from the success at
tendant upon the importation of the
vedalia cardinals, may have foo hastily
decided that the orcus chalybeus was
. equally'virile and aggressive, while the
work OF determination may have been
accomplished by some other parasite.
The ranch OF Mr.. Samuel Mckinley,
certainly one OF the finest and best
cared for in Southern California, was
next visited, and search made for the
progeny of ITO leis conformis, which
were placed there by Prof. Coquillstt on
May 18th. This parasite leeds on the
woolly aphis, with which few of Mr..
McKinleyss apple trees are infested.
Not trace of the parasite could be dis
covered.
At the ranch OF Mr.. William Niles,
$40 beetles OF the orcus chaly beus,
placed there on May 14th, were looked
for, but they. likewise, had not in
creased to any great extent. as only
three of the beetles were found, and the
trees were at the mercy of the red and
black scale.
In January and February two colonies
of forty-fve and fourteen orcus aus
tralasia had been turned loose in the
Sixth street park, but they, too, had
mot increased to any great extent. 1t
would now be interesting to know what
success has been met with in the north
ern orange orchards with these new
parasites.