92 
W. H. ASHMEAI). 
A GKIVERIC' SYl^OPSIS OF THE €OC'< IIEE. 
BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD. 
Family X. — COCCIDtE. 
Soft liodied insects of the smallest size. The females and the 
young larvse, of both sexes, are degraded, mite-like in appearance, 
oval or elli))tical in shape, with the head not distinctly sej)arable 
from the thoracic segment, apjiearing merely as a segment with 
rounded eyes placed toward the sides, the short, subsetaceous, 5- to 
11-jointed antenme being situated just a little in advance. Ocelli 
usually present. Beak usually 1 -jointed, and seldom with more than 
2 joints, enclosing 4 long, delicate setae. Legs usually short ; tarsi 
1 -jointed and usually with digitules. The adult males, in this anom- 
alous family, present a very different appearance from the females 
and young larvie ; they are elongate ovate, with a well developed 
thorax, a large scutellum, a distinct, small, rounded or quadrately 
shaped head, with the eyes quite large, either smooth or facetted, 
while the antenme are long, filiform, and composed of from 9 to 11 
joints, usually ])ubescent, but occasionally with whorls of hairs. 
The beak, in this sex, is wanting ; where it should be, are two large, 
shining ocelli. The legs are of moderate length, never greatly thick- 
ened ; the tibiae sometimes as thick, or thicker than the femora; 
tarsi 1 -jointed, stout, ending in a single claw, and usually furnished 
with knobbed digitules. Most of the males known in this family 
have two wings, the venation consisting of a single longitudinal vein 
with a simple, oblique, discoidal branch, the hind wings being aborted, 
and in their place is a pair of halters, as in the Diptera. Some few 
males in the genus Lecaniwn have been discovered recently to be 
entirely wingless, and it is quite probable that with closer study wing- 
less males in other genera will be found. Subapterous males are 
not uncommon. The abdomen in the male is simple, or terminates 
in two long caudal setse, a brush of filamentous down, or then armed 
with a long stylus, with oi‘ without caudal setse. 
The habits of this anomalous family are quite interesting; the 
vast majority of the species becoming quiescent and stationary upon 
their food-plants, cover themselves with a waxy or calcareous sub- 
stance, which, together with their castings or moults, affords a jiro- 
tection for their soft bodies, termed a scale, shield, test, sac or en- 
venope. The name, therefore, popularly given to them — “Scale 
insect” — is very appropriate, although some of them do not become 
