Maskell.— 0?j Coccidid£e. 5?, 



06 



by no means satisfactory guides for a student. In fact, while 

 it is convenient enough to use his generic names as forming a 

 group of the BrachysceUdce, and while the group-name (absurd 

 as it is, for shortness in the feet would not even be a propei- 

 generic character) can be retained, it would be necessary to 

 begm the systeinatic study of these curious forms quite afresh 

 in order to obtain clearness. I understood some time ago that 

 Mr. A. S. Olliff, of Sydney, had collected the material for such 

 a study, but I suppose that press of other duties has pre- 

 vented him from publication. 



Of Schrader's species I possess fine examples of Brachy- 

 scelis ovicola, B. munita, and two others, which may be perhaps 

 B. 2nleata and B. 'pharetrata. All of these came to me from 

 South Australia. 



As far as I can make out, the distinguishing character of 

 the group BrachysceUdce has been taken to be the formation 

 of hard woody galls. In some species the females and males 

 appear to occupy the same gall ; in others they inhabit separate 

 galls. In my specnnens of B. ovicola the female gall is as 

 large as a pigeon's egg, the separate male galls being very 

 small and tubular ; in the species which I suppose to be B. 

 jnleata the little tubes of the male are stuck in numbers on 

 the round female gall, which is as large as a filbert. Coccids, 

 however, are so capricious in their wavs that it would not be 

 m the least surprising to me to find some dav a Lecanid or a 

 Dactylopid gall-maker; and, indeed, I have in this paper 

 hesitated to attach to BrachyscclidcB the insect which I have 

 named Cylindrococcus. A more satisfactory course (I speak 

 subject to correction by any student of this group) might be 

 to take also into consideration the form of the female abdomen. 

 This m at least the specimens of B. ovicola and B. munita 

 which I have examined, and in Garteria and Frenchia de- 

 scnbed presently, is noticeably prolonged somewhat like a 

 tail, more or less slender. The resinous mass in which Car- 

 teria lives is not at all like the gall of Brachyscelis, yet I 

 agree with Signoret in thinking that Garteria may better be 

 placed amongst the BrachysceUdce than in any other group, 

 and probably the abdominal prolongation (which exists in the 

 American and the Indian as well as in the Australian species) 

 may usefully be employed as a connecting character. I am 

 aware that this suggestion involves an extension of the ori^^inal 

 group-characters as more or less defined by Schrader, but this 

 IS at least convenient, if not necessary. 



It will be understood that the presence of a " tail " would 

 not denote a Brachyscelid unless other characters were present. 

 Tor example : I have lately received from Australia a peculiar 

 insect with a particularly-pronounced "tail," and I find that 

 the characters of the adult (all that I have yet seen) are dis- 



