NATURAL ENEMY OF THE MEALY BUG.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10697, 27 August 1897, Page 2

NATURAL ENEMY OF THE MEALY BUG.

Orchakdists In Naw Zjaland ateoveiy year becoming more convinced that in •leftlloß wlbh blights, somo natural enemy omit bo Introduced to orienre success. Ur medlus wl {cli b'kvo boon reported bh poifootjy successful elsewhere are either quite uoolers or ouly very partially snO' oestful here, owing to ollmatlo or other re&iona not oaolly atoortaloed. Bab ib 1» a ou'lous fnot>, illustrating the way in wbleh Nature balances things, thabsoinetlmeH when n blight becomes co bad as to rnnke gardeners deepiilr, a natural enemy appears ab some p'aue or other, some nbwvaub person notes the faot, It Is dl.i" trlbatod, and the blight disappear! almost like tmglo, A notable Instance of this wan the nooaclj blight whloh infested rosos and other fbwerp, as well bb all binds of fralt trees nnd even Rorte hedge), some ten years ago. Ib wbb literally the despair of (gardeners, Snddonly It began to disappear, Someone— we believe 111 was Mr Hamilton, now onrator of the Dnnedln Athei ajjm-ob-p.erved that a pirtlcnlar species of ladybird preyed on the blight, and made the foot known. So Important was this deemed bbab the United States Govern, ment sent over a natnralist, Mr Knebele, who satisfied himself that the information was correct, and oolleoted a number oi the ladybirds whloh he took back to the c Sbateß to breed from, So marked was the n eiFsct of the liberation ot the Insect), par* n llonlarly in orange plantations, that * sufficient ladybirds to supply the demand J oonld not be bred, and Mr Koebele came j again to Hawke'a Bay, only to find tbab 1 the little black and red beetle had c tffaotually deatroyed the blisbt and die- 6 appeared In its tnrn. Though he oonld j not find even a solitary specimen, however, we believe that a few are still abont, for occasionally a pafob of the blight still ( appears, bnt is quickly destroyed, • 9fow <7sp«afa Siqqc, (fie Government , entomolcglßt, claims bo have discovered \ two nalnral enemleß of that most dlegnst- ( log of all blights, tbe mealy bng. This ' Is one of tbe most difficult ot all blights to deal with, especially in glass honses. Ib Is very bad in tome of tbe Auckland vlnetles, and on July sth Captain Bionn was in one of the worst Infected houses, when be saw mlonte files diligently eating the eggs of the insect. He secured specimens, from which to breed, and on closer inepeotlon fonnd that two dhtlnob species of flf were engaged in destroying the peat. Theie, when aompared with all the Amerioan, Australian, and New Zsa landdeßorlptlonsinhlapoEseeslon.atefouod to differ materially from any fllcß ot the kind mentioned In inch descriptions. They are also different from the minute parasitic fly reared by Captain Bionn about two years ago at Whaogarei from soalo lnaeotß Infesting native il ix ; and a no mention la made of natural enemies of the mealy bag by Mr T. W. Klik, the Government biologist, in the lei il it on the Bnbject of this pest lseued by the Agrlonltnral Department la February last, we may fairly BBtume that the files found at Monnt Eden oa the sjq Jaly last are Insecti new to solenoa. If thiß should prove to 1)3 tbe faat the discovery promises to bo a most important one, especially as the files seem to breed with great rapidity. By tho 17ah of this month Ciptaio Broun had reared and distributed la the Anck< land district about) 1400 filar, and bad aont another hundred to the Agricultural Depsrtffient at Wellington for breeding purposes, It will be somewhat strange If little New Zaaland should anpply the world with the natural enemies of two such serious posts as tho aooaola blight and bbc mealy bug.