5 4 Aspidiotus. 



ASPIDIOTUS PUTEARIUS, sp. nov. 

 (Plate X. figs. i-6.) 



Female puparium {_fig. 2) round, flat, or slightly concave, forming an oper- 

 culum to the pit-like depression in which the insect rests. Colour very pale 

 brownish ochreous, semi-opaque ; minutely rugose, with concentric lines of 

 growth. Pellicles central, pale yellow ; the second pellicle slightly concave, 

 the first slightly convex. Ventral scale obsolete, a mere powdery film lining 

 the cavity below the insect. Diameter i*5o mm. 



Male puparium {fig. 6) broadly oval ; similar in texture to that of the female ; 

 median area convex where it covers the insect. Size, ri2 x i mm. 



Adult female {^fig. 3) bright pale yellow, terminal segment colourless. 

 Almost circular in outline ; flat or slightly concave above ; highly convex below, 

 where it fits into cavity in the leaf Segments well defined above, inconspicuous 

 below. Eyes minute, black, sub-marginal, seen only from above. Antenna 

 rudimentary, a small tubercle with curved hair at base. A few small hairs at 

 regular distance round margin of body. No parastigmatic glands. Pygidium 

 comparatively small. Lobes, six ; median pair largest, obscurely tricuspid ; 

 others smaller, very delicate, and transparent, third usually emarginate on outer 

 side. Deeply fringed squames between the lobes. Margin laterad of lobes 

 with four or five fringed squamous marginal processes. Margin dorsad of 

 second and third lobes thickened, and produced into prominent points. Small 

 spines at base of each lobe ; a fourth and fifth pair further up on each side. 

 Anal aperture about half way between genital aperture and extremity. No 

 circumgenital glands. A large number of tubular spinnerets in four or five 

 diagonal series on each side converging towards extremity of pygidium ; each 

 spinneret consisting of a short cylindrical tube, with thickened rim and tongue- 

 like process at free end, opening on the dorsal surface by well-defined oval 

 pores ; those nearest the extremity opening apparently on to the margin. 

 Diameter about i mm. 



Adult male reddish. Foot {fig. 5) with four-knobbed hairs, tarsus shorter 

 than tibia, Antennae normal. (Described from dead, shrivelled specimens.) 



Habitat on Strobilanthes viscosus, forming and occupying small pits on 

 under surface of leaves ; corresponding discoloured prominences, hke half- 

 formed galls, appearing on the upper surface {fig. i). Not common, but 

 occurring on individual plants in enormous numbers, covering every leaf. 

 Punduloya (January and May). 



Mr. Maskell has described {Trans. N. Z. Instit., 1890, p. 10), under the 

 name of Aspidiotus fodiens, an Australian insect of similar habits, forming 

 pits in the leaves of a species of acacia. That insect, however, differs from 

 A. putearius in several important points, notably in the possession of circum- 

 genital glands. 



