THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 85 



A NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF ABDOMINAL 

 SPIRACLES IN THE COCCID^. (HEMIPTERA). 



BY G. F. FERRIS, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA. 



Abdominal spiracles have been noted in but a limited number 

 of species of Coccidse and Avhen noted seem usually either to have 

 been passed over as of no particular significance or to have been 

 regarded as evidence that the forms possessing them are mereh' 

 aberrant. Savage, (1) who has described the tracheal system of 

 Monoplilebus stebhingi \'ar. octocaudata Green, seems to have be- 

 lieved that the abdominal spiracles in this species are an adapta- 

 tion to meet the needs occasioned by the extraordinarily large - 

 size of this particular insect. In a few cases they have been re- 

 garded as of some taxonomic significance. The genus Perissopneii- 

 mon Newstead was based partially upon the fact of "their presence 

 and they are noted among the generic characters of the genera 

 Stigmacocciis Hempel and Cryptokermes Hempel, while Pergande 

 based his sub-family Xylococcinae partially upon them, stating 

 (2) that, "In the true Monophlebina.' the abdominal stigmata are 

 wanting or not observable; . . ." . 



Newstead (3) stated in 1901 that abdominal spiracles are 

 present in Stigmacocciis and Perissopneumon, but that, . . this 

 peculiarity does not exist in any other Coccid," and Savage (ref. 

 cit.) repeated this statement in 1914. As a matter of fact it was 

 erroneous when first made for such spiracles had been recorded 

 in the case of Cryptokermes brasiliensis Hempel which was de- 

 scribed in the same paper as was Stigmacocciis, in the case of 

 Xylococcus betulcF -Ferg. and also in some of Maskell's species of 

 Ccelostomidia { = Ccelostoma) . In 1903 Newstead (4) recorded the 

 discovery of abdominal spiracles in certain species of Orth'ezia, 

 stating that, "The presence of abdominal spiracles in the three 

 species of Orthezia hereafter described is a marked characteristic. 

 and one which has not hitherto been observed in this sub-family 

 of Coccidae." Here he was again in error, for the abdominal 



(1) Savage, R. E. The tracheal system of Monophlebus stebbingi var. 

 octocaudata. In Bui. Ent. Res. .5: 45-7: pis. 5-9. (1914). 



(2) Pergande, T. Bui. IS, u.s., U. S. Dept. Agric, Div. Ent., p. 26. (1898). 



(3) Newstead, R. Mon. Brit. Coccida;, vol. 1 : 15. (1901). 



(4) Newstead, R. Mon. Brit. Coccids, vol. 2 : 227. (190-3). 

 March, 1918 



