Dactylop iincE . 381 



On CodicEUf)i, Casiilloa, Erythrina, Theobroma cacao, Terminalia, etc. 

 Pundaluoya, Peradeniya, Kandy, Gammaduwa, Colombo. 



The insects are massed upon the young shoots of the plants. They con- 

 struct no definite ovisac, and do not secrete much waxy matter, so that each 

 individual in the mass is easily distinguishable. They are very frequently 

 preyed upon by the carnivorous larvte of a Lycrenid butterfly {Spalgis epius\ 

 and are parasitised by a small Dipteron which pupates within the body of 

 its host. 



PSEUDOCOCCUS BROMELI^, Bouche. 

 (Text Figure i.; 



Lecanium bromelice, Bouche, Schadl. Cart. Ins., -p. 49 (1833). 



Dactylopius bromelice, Signoret, A7in. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5), Vol. V., p. 310 (1875). 



Pseudococcus brojtielice, Fernald, Cat. Cocc. of the World, p. 98 (1903). 



Adult female very pale, olivaceous, or greyish, or obscurely yellowish, with 

 a close but not very dense covering of white powdery secretion ; margin with 

 short, subconical waxy tassels, most of which may be missing in old examples. 

 Body rather broadly ovate (see fig. i, a) ; convex and tumescent above, flattish 

 beneath ; limbs and antennae relatively small. Antennas {fig. 3, b, c) either 

 seven or eight-jointed ; terminal joint always the longest, and markedly 

 stouter than the preceding joints ; the penultimate and (in the eight-jointed 

 form) the fifth widened distally, the remaining joints subcylindrical. Legs 

 {fig. I, d) moderately stout ; tibia shorter than femur, and approximately three 

 times the length of the tarsus ; tarsal and ungual digitules very slender and 

 inconspicuous. Anterior and posterior dorsal osteoles very large and con- 

 spicuous, with tumescent labia?. Anal lobes rounded, small and inconspicuous 

 (fig. I, a, c). Ceriferous tracts seventeen on each side, each with from two to 

 four (rarely five) small but stout conical spines, three or four slender setae, and 

 an irregular group of small ceriferous pores. Examination of a series of 

 sixteen examples shows that there are — almost invariably — three spines on 

 each of the three first tracts ; usually two only on the fourth tract ; the fifth 

 tract has two or three in almost equal frequency ; sixth tract usually with three ; 

 seventh to ninth tracts usually with two only ; tenth to sixteenth usually with 

 three ; seventeenth (anal lobe) tract invariably with two only. The spines on 

 the posterior tracts are slightly but distinctly enlarged, those on the anal lobe 

 being the largest {see fig. i,/,g, h). Anal setiE comparatively short, approxi- 

 mately equal to the diameter of the anal ring. Caudal setae about twice as 

 long as those of the anal ring. Length averaging 2 to 3 mm. ; breadth i"5 

 to 2 mm. 



On rhizomes of Cantta and on roots of Impatiens sp. ; Peradeniya. 

 Recorded, as a pest of pine-apple plants, from the tropical regions of both 

 Hemispheres. In Ceylon the species appears to prefer the roots of various 

 plants, and has not been observed on pine-apples. The insect determined by 

 Maskell as bromelice, from India, was more probably lilacinus. 



