Aspidiotus. 43 



ASPIDIOTUS FICUS {Riley\ Comstotk. 

 (Plate V.) 



Chrysomphalus ficiis, Riley, MSS., Ashmead, American Entomologist, 1880, 

 p. 267. 



Aspidiotus Jiciis, Comstock, Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XIII. p. 8. 



Female puparium circular, moderately convex, smooth ; dark olivaceous 

 brown or reddish brown, paler at margin {fig. 2). Pellicles reddish yellow, 

 always partially obscured by a layer of secretion which is reddish brown above 

 the first, and pale olivaceous above the second pellicle. In the centre a circular 

 raised disc is usually exposed, the secretionary covering being here worn off. 

 In young specimens the centre is covered by a raised patch of opaque white 

 secretion. The first pellicle convex above ; the second often slightly concave ; 

 the form may best be observed from the inside of the scale (^g. 3) where the 

 exuviiE are more fully exposed. Ventral scale obsolete. Diameter i to 2 mm. 



Male puparium, unobserved in Ceylon; but, on a plant oiGara'nia cambogia.^ 

 labelled from Ceylon, growing in one of the plant houses at Kew Gardens, I 

 found a large colony of these insects containing both male and female scales. 

 The male puparium {Jig. 6) is dark brown with pale grey margin. Pellicle 

 reddish fulvous. Length, o"8o mm. 



Adult female yellow, or white mottled with yellow. Body broadly rounded 

 in front, tapering suddenly to a point behind (y?^. 7). On the margin of the 

 mesothorax is a small thickened patch bearing a stout thorn-like spine {ftgs. 7 

 and 8). Pygidium {fig. 4) with six prominent lobes sub-equal in size, each 

 notched on the lateral edge. At a short distance beyond the lobes the lateral 

 margin is thickened and projecting, with minute serrations and two deep in- 

 dentations. Squames deeply fringed ; two in the mesal and first spaces, three 

 in the second space, and three beyond the third lobe, these last being bifurcate 

 and fringed on their lateral edges. Circumgenital glands in four groups ; lower 

 laterals with two to four, upper laterals with six to eight orifices. A large 

 number of conspicuous tubular spinnerets, varying from the filiform to the 

 trumpet-shaped type, some opening by inconspicuous dorsal pores in two short 

 series on each side, others opening on to the margin near the extremity. Anal 

 aperture small, close to extremity. Genital aperture between the upper and 

 lower groups of glands. Length 080 to i mm. 



Adult male unobserved in Ceylon. Said by Comstock to be orange-yellow 

 in colour with dark brown apodema. 



Eggs and young larvse, yellow. 



Habitat in Ceylon, on upper surface of leaves of Rhododendron arboreiim 

 ifis- ^)- Newera Eliya (January). 



This species has been very carefully studied by Prof. Comstock in America, 

 where it attacks orange trees. It is said to be very injurious to the younger 



