THE LAN TAN A BUG. 549 



less conspicuous insect, and measures only about one twenty-fourth part of 

 an inch in diameter. 



The young larva again does not differ very mucli from the half-grown 

 insect, except in point of size. It is however of a paler colour, and the mar- 

 ginal fringe is only very slightly developed. 



The eggs, which are carried within the ovisac packed in a cottony material, 

 are at first almost white. They soon deepen to yellow, then orange, and, 

 just before the emergence of the larva, become of a greenish tint. 



Tl e male insect, after the first moult, is readily distinguishable from the 

 other sex. It becomes more elongate and, instead of secreting compact waxy 

 processes, envelops itself in a loose woolly secretion. Rudimentary wings 

 be;.;into api ear towards the end of this stage. The pupal (or nymphal") 

 stage is only distinguished by the presence of rather longer wing pads, and 

 in the greater length of the antenna, which are then folded back along the 

 sides of the body, extending nearly to its extremity. The pupa has long, 

 well-developed legs which it can use when disturbed, though it usually 

 remains quiescent beneath its woolly covering. 



The adult male is a very graceful little insect, of a totally different appear- 

 ance to the female. It is of a slatey grey colour, with very long slender 

 antennse, a single pair of greyish wings, and a tuft of long white silky 

 filaments at the end of the body. The eyes are black and divided into 

 numerous facets. It has no mouth, and consequently takes no food in this 

 stage, having laid in a sufficient store during the larval period. 

 Life History and Habits. 



There appears to be a constant succession of broods, I have examined 

 infected plants at all times of the year, and have always found the insects in 

 all stages, from the neuly hatched larva to the adult female. I have kept 

 individual females under observation. After the first commencement of the 

 formation of the ovisac a period of three weeks elapses before the emergence 

 of the first larva, after which the young insects hatch out at the rate of 

 about five a day for a period of six weeks or more ; by which time the parent 

 is exhausted and dies, and the earliest hatched larvse are mature and com- 

 mence ovipositing on their own account. The length of life of a single insect 

 is therefore about fifteen weeks ; but as it commences to produce larv^ at the 

 ninth week, there may be five generations in the course of the year. 



This fecundity is more or lefS independent of the attentions of the male 

 insects, which appear only at irregular intervals. It is doubtful whether a 

 generation of males is produced even once a year. It is remarkable that ihe 

 true male of Orthezia insignis has been recorded only from Ceylon. Supposed 

 males have been described and figured both in England and America ; but in 

 both these cases the male of a totally different insect has been erroneously 

 associated with this female. Since the appearance of the pest in Ceylon two 

 male broods only have come under my personal observation — in July, 1894, 



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