92 R. T. LEWI8 ON A NEW 8PECIES OF ALEURODES 



seven-jointed, the first two being short and thick, the others 

 filiform and slender with many rings, the third being nearly as 

 long as the last four. The feet are long in proportion to the body, 

 tibia slender and twice as long as the femur, tarsus of two joints, 

 claws two. The male and female generative organs are well made 

 out and do not materially differ from those of other species already 

 described. But a curious organ, apparently not hitherto noticed, 

 is found upon the dorsal surface of the last abdominal segment in 

 both males and females in a position corresponding to that of the 

 oval orifice already mentioned as characteristic of the pupse of this 

 family. These, together with the distinctive features above- 

 named, are shown in the illustrations which accompany this paper 

 (Plates II., III.). 



In his letter to me Mr. Maskell says : "I wish somebody would 

 take up Aleurodes seriously ; the study is difficult and has only 

 been scratched as yet by Signoret and myself," and I venture to 

 throw out this suggestion to members of the Club in search of a 

 line of study a little off the beaten tracks of the diatoms and 

 rotifers. There is but one genus in the family of Aleurodidce, and 

 as the various species known have, for the most part, been named 

 from the plants upon which they are found, I propose to call the 

 one which forms the subject of the present communication 

 Aleurodes asparagi. 



In conclusion, I desire again to express my indebtedness to Mr. 

 Maskell for the information received from him upon this little 

 known subject, and to my Natal correspondent, the Rev. J. R. 

 Ward, for the trouble which he has taken in the matter of collect- 

 ing and forwarding the specimens. 



With regard to the fact that this scale was only found upon an 

 asparagus plant cultivated for ornament, Mr. Ward makes the 

 suggestion that possibly this may be due to the protection afforded 

 by the verandah, and it seems extremely likely that the fragile 

 waxen plumes would speedily be broken down and washed away by 

 the heavy rains to which an infested plant growing out in the open 

 would be periodically subjected. In the absence of the white wax, 

 it would, of course, be very difficult to detect the presence of so 

 small a scale with the naked eye, and a casual observer might 

 readily, on that account, suppose an infected plant to be free. 



