88 



On a New Species of Aleurodes. 



By R. T. Lewis, F.R.M.S. 



(Read April IWi, 1895.) 



Plates II., III. 



In the autumn of 1892 I received from a correspondent in Natal 

 a spray of asparagus infested with small scale insects of a kind 

 which he did not remember to have previously met with. The 

 plant in question was one cultivated for ornamental purposes in 

 the verandah of a house at Byrne, and it had become freely 

 covered with small white spots, which, to the naked eye, had 

 somewhat the appearance of mould, and were regarded by the 

 owner as a great disfigurement. It was noted, however, that 

 similar plants growing out in the open were not affected in the 

 same way. On examination under the microscope, the objects 

 were seen to be the pupal forms of some species of scale insect, 

 which, though themselves perfectly black, were covered with 

 plumes of pure white wax symmetrically arranged and present'ng 

 a very ornate appearance, especially when seen under the binocular. 

 The individual specimens varied as to size, but the arrangement 

 of the waxen plumes was practically the same in each. I believe 

 that I exhibited some specimens at one of the meetings of the 

 Club soon after they were received, but was at the time unable 

 either to give or to obtain much information concerning them, and 

 on submitting them to one of our best English authorities on the 

 subject of Coccididce, I found they were entirely new to him. 



Following up the search for information, I forwarded some 

 specimens to Prof. W. M. Maskell, whose researches into the 

 history of the scale insects of New Zealand are no doubt well- 

 known to many of our members through the publication of his 

 valuable work upon the subject, as well as his numerous communi- 

 cations to the New Zealand Institute and to the Royal Society of 

 South Australia. Mr. Maskell had no difficulty in deciding that 

 the creatures were not Coccididce, as at first supposed, but that 

 they belonged to the allied family of the Aleurodidce, which may 



