The Scale Insects 



Fig. 143. — Diaspis pentagona : adult male. 

 (Author's illustration.) 



creatures, which 

 crawl rapidly 

 away from the 

 body of the 

 mother, wander 

 out upon the 

 new and tender 

 growth of the 

 plant or tree, 

 and there settle, 

 pushing their 

 beaks through 

 the outer tissue of the leaf or twig and feeding upon the sap. 

 Even at this early stage the male insect can be distinguished from 

 the female by certain differences in structure. As a general rule 

 the female casts its skin from three to five times before reaching 

 the adult condition 

 and beginning to 

 lay eggs or to give 

 birth to young. 

 With each success- 

 ive molt the insect 

 increases in size 

 and becomes more 

 convex in form. 

 Its legs and an- 

 tennae become 

 proportionally re- 

 duced, its eyes be- 

 come smaller and 

 are finally lost. As 

 a general rule it is 

 incapable of mov- 

 ing itself from the 

 spot upon which it 

 has once become 

 fixed after the 

 second molt, al- 

 though certain Spe- ^^ i44._Diaspis pentagona, adult^emale scale 

 cieS crawl through- removed. (Author's illustration.) 



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