Maskell. — On Coccididse. 45 



that species. Yet I perceive a, difference in this respect : that 

 the galls shown in my figure are smooth, and apparently built 

 up of several longitudinal segments meeting at the tip. Mr. 

 Tepper, of Adelaide, sent me some time ago two galls which 

 resembled these. On cutting them open I found them filled 

 with numbers of small cavities in wdiich were larvoe and pupae 

 of some dipterous insect, and I conjectured this to be some 

 species of Cccidomyia. On that occasion I could not detect 

 any Coccid in the interior, and so informed Mr. Tepper ; but 

 in a subsequent letter he told me that the boys about iVdelaide 

 used to be rather fond of eating tlaese galls, on account of their 

 sweet taste, until somebody drew their attention to " the red 

 insect inside." Supposing, then, that this " red insect " will 

 turn out to be a Coccid after all, I think I may venture to pre- 

 dict that it will be a third species of Cylindrococcus ; and per- 

 haps by next year I may be able to identify it. Meanwhile 

 the figure which I give w-ill serve very well to show the differ- 

 ences in external form of the galls of this curious genus. 



I suppose that there may have been twenty or thirty 

 dipterous larvee in the cavities of the substance of each gall 

 which I cut open. No similar case has hitherto come under 

 my notice. Parasites attacking the insects themselves are of 

 course common enough amongst Coccids; but in this instance 

 the Diptera were living in the gall, and not in the female 

 Coccid. 



Subdivision MONOPHLEBID^. 



Genus Ccelostoma, Maskell. 



Coelostoma compressum, sp. nov. Plate XL, figs. 1-8. 



x\dult female red, elongated, convex, segmented, active; 

 excreting at gestation a quantity of white or pinkish cotton, 

 covering the dorsum, and forming an ovisac behind it ; this 

 cotton frequently takes the form of curly lamiiiations : length 

 of insect about iiu. as a rule, but specimens reach ^\n. An- 

 tennae of ten joints, slightly tapering as far as the eighth, the 

 two last increasing a little in thickness ; the first nine joints 

 are subequal, the second being a little the longest ; the last 

 joint is as wide at the base as the end of the ninth, so that the 

 two almost look as if joined in one ; all the joints bear several 

 hairs. Feet rather strong and thick: tarsus more than half as 

 long as the tibia ; the tarsus is curved ; both tibia and tarsus 

 bear on the inner edges a row of spines : there are two digitules, 

 one tarsal, the other on the claw ; both are long fine hairs : 

 the trochanter bears several setas. Eostrum and mentum ab- 

 sent. Anogenital ring simple ; anal tubercles very small, se- 

 tiferous. The epidermis bears great numbers of circular 

 compound spinnerets, intermixed with some longish fine hairs 

 which are not very numerous. 



