MonopJilebifK^. 439 



ICERVA ^GYPTIACA, Dougl. 

 (Plate CLXXXI.) 



Crossotosoma (Tgypiiaciivi, Douglas, Ent. Mo. Mag.^ Vol. XXYI. p. 79 (1890). 

 Icerya cpgyptiaciivt., Riley and Howard, Ins. Life, Vol. 11. p. 256 (1890). 

 Icerya crgyptiaca, Newstead, Ent. Mo. Mag., Vol. XXIX. p. 167 (1893). 

 Icerya tangalla, Green, Ind. Mus. Notes, Vol. IV. p. 7 (1S96). 



Adult female {figs, i, 4) orange red or brick red, limbs blackish, the dorsum 

 more or less completely covered with cushions of white mealy secretion inter- 

 mingled with pulverulent or granular wax. In the early adult the secretory 

 cushions are distinct and separate, the intermediate parts being lightly dusted 

 with white powdery wax, through which the colour of the body of the insect 

 appears of a salmon-pink tint. Later, the waxy cushions coalesce and com- 

 pletely cover the dorsum, with but faint traces of segmentation. Margin of 

 body with a complete fringe of stout, irregularly sinuate, tapering, snow-white 

 processes, numbering (in perfect examples) eleven on each side. Douglas gives 

 the number of processes as ' seven-eight ' ; but his examples were almost 

 certainly imperfect. The processes are very brittle and easily detached or 

 mutilated {st&fig. 16). Those processes emanating from the anterior half of 

 the body are considerably stouter than the remainder. After oviposition the 

 narrower abdominal processes lie closely over and conceal the ovisac. 



Limbs and antennae blackish or dark brown ; the former eleven-jointed 

 {fig. 5), occasionally nine- or ten-jointed — by fusion or suppression of inter- 

 mediate joints ; terminal joint in-egularly oblong ovate, longest ; the three basal 

 joints broad and stout, approximately cylindrical ; the remaining joints broader 

 at the distal extremity. Legs large and stout ; tibia approximately equal in 

 length to femur and trochanter combined ; tarsus approximately half the length 

 of tibia, occasionally less ; claw {see fig. 13) strong and falcate ; digitules simple. 

 Eyes (see fig. 5) blackish, truncately conical. Thoracic spiracles large and 

 conspicuous, heavily chitinized. Abdominal spiracles {fig. 12) small and incon- 

 spicuous ; three on each side, near the extremity of the body. Derm with 

 numerous pores of two forms and sizes. The smaller pores (which are the more 

 numerous) have a trifoliate central aperture {fig. 9) surrounded by a ring of 

 eleven contiguous beads ; the centre, as seen in profile {fig. 10), projects above 

 the beaded ring. There is a crowded transverse series of these small pores, on 

 the venter, across the base of the abdomen on a line corresponding with the 

 anterior border of the ovisac. The larger pores {figs. 7, 8) have an irregular 

 central aperture surrounded by a double-beaded ring, the inner ring containing 

 seven-eight, and the outer ring fourteen-fifteen beads. Dermal seta; numerous, 

 varying in length and thickness, the larger setje more abundant on the marginal 

 area {fig. 6). Each seta springs from a prominent tubercular base surmounted 

 by a translucent collar {fig. 11) which appears to be closed at its distal 

 extremity. In the smaller setie the collar is very short and inconspicuous. 

 Size very variable. Average length about 5 mm., with a breadth of 4 mm. ; 



