Maskell. — On Coccididac. 13 



letter from Professor Eiley, I have been informed that Dr. 

 Targioni-Tozzetti considered that, after all, my species was dis- 

 tinct from A. coccincns. T should be always very loth to depart 

 from the authority of Signoret, whose work on the Homoptera 

 is incontestably the best hitherto produced. At the same time, 

 in every report, book, paper, or newspaper paragraph which 

 happens to mention the insect it is invariably under the name 

 of .-1. aurantii. Custom, right or wrong, must be to some ex- 

 tent obeyed ; and, though I am by no means satisfied as to its 

 correctness, the name of A. aurantii may now be best adhered 

 to for the future. There is confusion enough, in all conscience, 

 in the nomenclature of Coccids ; and, if that confusion can be 

 at all lessened by conforming to the general custom, a little 

 evil may be done to secure a greater good. 



In the number of "Insect Life" for June, 1891, p. 417, 

 there is a notice of this insect as occurring in Syria, and I find 

 it referred to therein as " Aonidia aurantii, Mask." I have no 

 idea when, why, or by whom this somewhat important change 

 has been made : whoever referred the insect to the genus 

 Aonidia did not communicate with me. However, I am unable 

 to accept this correction. Aonidia stands, in relation to those 

 species of Diaspids which have circular puparia, in a similar 

 position to that of Fiorinia as regards the elongated species: 

 it is characterized by the excessive proportionate size of the 

 second pellicle. In both these genera the second pellicle forms 

 almost the whole puparium, and the adult female is therefore 

 much smaller than the second, or pupal, stage. This very 

 definite character is not found in A. aurantii. 1 have re- 

 examined a large number of specimens, some mounted, many 

 in sitii, and the second pellicle is quite clearly visible in all, 

 and is considerably smaller than the adult female insect. 

 Moreover, in Dr. Signoret's original description of Aonidia he 

 distinctly states that it presents the appearance of two puparia, 

 one superimposed on the other : no such appearance is notice- 

 able in A. aurantii. I am thus unable to accept the suggested 

 generic change, and prefer to leave the species in the genus 

 Asjridiotus. 



Aspidiotus cydonise. Comstock, U.S. Dep. of Agric. Eeport, 

 1880, p. 295. 



While this paper is in the press my friend Mr. A. Koebele, 

 who is on his second journey to Australia in search of Coccid 

 parasites, has brought to me a scale on oranges which he col- 

 lected on his way at Samoa, in the South Pacific. After care- 

 ful examination I conclude that this insect is identical with A. 

 cydonicv, a species recently reported as on quinces in Florida. 

 The occurrence of it on citrus in the Pacific is an interesting 

 fact. I received about the same time a letter from Mr. D. W. 



