Maskell. — On Coccididee. 201 



Assuming, then, that these niifces are identical with, or 

 very slight variations from, the European form, they must be 

 recorded as follows : — 



Order AEACHNOIDEA. 



Fain. GAMASIN-2E. 



Sub-fam. Gamasid^. 



Gen. Ukopoda, Latreille. 



Species Uropoda vegetans, De Geer. 



Minute mites, parasitic upon Coleoptera (Elater) and 

 Crustacea (Oniscus) in New Zealand. Form nattish, sub- 

 circular ; colour yellowish-brown ; attached in clusters by fine 

 threads to the host. Characters generally of Gamasince : Eyes 

 none, mandibles chelate, feet eight, each with a double claw 

 and a minute caruncle or pad. 



Localities, up to the present : Christchurch (on Oniscus) ; 

 Wellington (on Elater). The Wellington specimens were sent 

 to the Museum lately by Colonel Humfrey, of the Hutt. 



Art. X*SVI. — Further Coccid Notes : with Descriptions of 

 Neiv Species from Australia, India, Sandwich Islands, 

 Demerara, and South Pacific. 



By W. M. Maskell, Corr. Memb. Eoy. Society of South 

 Australia, Eegistrar of the University of New Zealand. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 18th January, 1893.] 



Plates XI.-XVIII. 



The widely-separated localities from which come the insects 

 referred to in the following pages are evidence of the in- 

 creased interest taken nowadays in Coccids all over the world. 

 I was once told by an entomological friend, as an excuse for 

 his not attempting to collect or study this family, that there 

 were so few species in it and so little was known about them. 

 Apart from the fact that, to most people, rarity and want of 

 information would be rather incentives to study than reasons 

 for neglect, the first statement is scarcely accurate, and the 

 second becomes less so every year. I do not myself think 

 that the multiplication of species tends to render a family 

 either more interesting or more important ; and probably 

 some judicious pruning amongst the many thousands of 

 species of Coleoptera or Lepidoptera would bring about a most 

 useful reduction of their numbers, as some naturalists seem to 



