The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-09-10

structive scale-bugs known. and con-
fines Its attention to Lan'ana, and Is
equally destructive to many other spe-
cies. When II lie known that these spe-
c!es includes Tea, Coffee, both Arabian
and Liberian; Cinchona, ard the Toma
to. It will be seen that the appearance
OF the pest on Lantana, was. viewed In
Ceylon. rhe Government and planting
community there were justified In imme-
diately taking the most drastic steps to
stamp 1t out
ITS APPEARANCE ON HE HA-
wA1IAN ISLANDS. Sc
During November. 1899. Mr.. q. =. Wild
err found the insect at Waikiki, Maui
Specimens of the insect were forwarded
to me at sydney. N. s. w. by Mr.. David
Haughs, with letter dated Nov. ~. 1899
Mr.. laughs wrote: II send you. by
same mail. sample of scale found by Mr..
G.. T. Wilder, pr.ying on the Lartana on
Maui He thinks that he has got the
Lantana destroyer for sure. IL is the
scale with a white body and black head
He wants to know all about 1t, Cor he
claims that 1t Is killing the Lantana on
Maui. We were looking up YOUR case Of
scale-bugs, but could not find II. He is
very anxious TO. hear from you on the
subject and asked If would send you "a
sample" I Immediately recognized the
Lantana scale, Orthezia Insignis and ac-
cordingly requested Mr.. wilder to nave
the patches of Lantana with the dcstruc-
tive scale Insects burned, informing him
fully of the. danger of this pest. This
letter had becn acknowledged under date
of Jan. IL, 1900 During the summer of
the same year, Mr Wilder personally IN
formed me that he had the Lan.ana and
scale-bugs burned. ....
On my visit to Maui. l have been in
formed by Brother Frank u the Catholic
mission. that he first found the insect
near q japanese store, and brought the
same to a patch of Lantana near a Iiv.r
where Mr.. wilder had found 1t few
months later. ..
In recent article in the Maui News,
attention is again called to the Ian
tana Blight" AS being an effective enemy
to that plant. and We learn that the in
sect had been distributed over large
area .. .-...'
While on Kauai. was repeatedly ask
ed to give advice as to whether the in
sect could be introduced there with any
prospect of destroying the Lantana plant.
In every instance the parties were given
to understand that by 80 doing they may
even see "A more dangerous pest than the
plant In question.
THE HABIT OF THE INSECT.
The first indication noticeable Of the
presence of the OrtheZia upon Lantana
is "A decided black and smoothly appear
ance of the plants affected. As Is the
case with many other Coccids, this is the
result of the honcy-dew exuded by them,
which adheres TO the foliage and twigs
and n black fungoid grows upon the
same. An Aleurodes found upon Ian
! tana in the Kona district produces the
same effect Owing to the black appear
aucc OF tho infected plants the Lantana
blight can be seen n long distance OFT.
! On closer examination the Orthezia
can be seen In enormous numbers at
tached To the under side of leaves, the
| twigs and branches of plants To the
naked eye the genera! effect Is a macs
of dirty-white insects The body of the
insect Is Of a dark brownish or olive.
green. II has three pairs of we'll devcl-
| oped legs. and It's beak II situated be
tween the front pair, There In a row
OF short white coAicai processes along
the middle OF the back. and a fringe OF
similar but shorter appsndnEes round the
margin. gradually increasing In length
towards the hinder part OF the insect
From below the posterior extremity o,
the body proceeds a stout white cyiin-
dricai appcndase huted above, smooth
below, varying In length according TO tbs
age Of the insect. reaching in some in
dt,1duals to nearly four times the length
OF the body. broad at base, and vcr,
gradually tnpering to extremity which u
slightly upcurved. This Is the ovisac. and
contains a vast number of eggs that re
main until they have hatched when the,
make their exit through an aperture n
It's extremity. II one Of these esg-cases
b. broken open, II will generally be founc
TO b. filed with eggs and young insects
The eggs at the base Of the tube are o
a very pale creamy color, having beer
just laid; while lower down they becom,
bright yellow, orange, and then greenish
and the young insects ready to emery,
from the tube are olive green. A WOOL.
secretion fills up the crevices between tn
eggs. These white appendaees are yer.
fragile and easily broken. / found tn
mature male insects were bred from co
coons found In large numbers undc
stones, amongst leaves and rubbish OIL
the ground at the Peradeniya Gardens
on my first visit to that place. Mr.
Green has described the same as follows
1T is a delicate little fly; slaty gray II
color; antennae very long and slender
en-jointed. the two basal joints YER
short, the others greatly elongated: leg
long and slender; a single pair Of wings
rather opaque, busted with grayish pow
der; a tuft Of long silky filaments at tn
end Of body. Eyes black. with numerou
facets. The adult male insect has n
mouth. and consequently takes no foo
in this stage
II Is evident that the insect has az
peared on Maui some two years sine.
and up to date has paid its attention
only to the Lantana plant. In no In
stance has It been observed by me to az
pear upon any of Its many known foo
J plants. and as far as could learn, n
one has. as yet, observed the same gu,
side Of the Lantana-
CTo be Continued)