Maskell. — On Coccididas. 49 



China, where they are far out of proportion to the number of 

 females. Sometimes there is a fair equahty in the sexes, or a 

 few more females than males : this may be taken as the 

 normal condition. Sometimes the males are excessively rare, 

 even undiscovered after many years' search — e.g., Lecanintn 

 hesperidum or Mytilasins pomorum. Sometimes the sexes are 

 intermingled, sometimes separate : I have seen a branch of 

 Acacia with one long twig covered thickly with females alone 

 of Lecanium baccatmn, and another long twig covered still 

 more thickly with males alone ; and a tree of Pittosporum 

 tenuifolmm has been for two or three years in succession 

 white with males of Fiorinia astelicB, only a few females ap- 

 pearing here and there. '■'■ The student of Coccidsis constantly 

 meeting with phenomena and problems such as have been dis- 

 cussed in these paragraphs, which tend to strengthen his con- 

 viction that few, if any, families of the great insect class of 

 the animal kingdom equal them in complexity and interest. 



Coslostoma pilosum, Maskell. N.Z. Trans., vol. xxiii., 

 p. 29. 



Since last year I have obtained specimens of the male of 

 this species. The insect is darkish-red or brown in colour, but 

 covered with hairs and with a good deal of whitish meal on 

 the body and legs: length of body about x^oi^^^-> expanse of 

 wings about fin. "Wings rather thick, with a strong red 

 nervure. Antennae long and slender, with ten joints, the first 

 two short and thick, the rest long and subequal ; on all the 

 joints are many hairs. Feet long and slender, very hairy, and 

 the hairs on the inner edges of the tarsus and tibia are spinous; 

 no tarsal digitules, the pair on the claw being long fine hairs. 

 Abdominal spike short, subcylindrical. Eyes large, facetted. 



There is little difference between this insect and the male 

 of G. zealandicum : it is rather smaller and rather more 

 hairy, and has a larger quantity of meal, the male of G. 

 zealandicum being usually almost, if not quite, clean ; but in 

 the anatomical characters the two seem to be very similar. 



Coelostoma immane, sp. nov. Crawford Coll. Plate XI., 

 figs. 9-12. 



-■JD^ 



Adult female of a dull dark-red or reddish-brown colour, 

 sometimes nearly black; elongated and, if viewed from above, 

 more or less elliptical : length in the specimens observed varying 

 from lin. to lin. Viewed sideways the cephalic extremity 

 appears thin and flattish, the thoracic and abdominal regions 

 considerably inflated both dorsally and ventrally, so that in a 

 large specimen the head is only about lin. thick, while the 



* This tree has since been killed by the Coccids. 



