246 (September, 



On June 17th, 1889, I received from the Colorado Biological 

 Association three specimens of the species described above, one of 

 them a female with marsupial ovisac undeveloped, and two but little 

 more than half as large ; with the folloTvdng note from Mr. T. 

 D. A. Cockerell :— 



" Enclosed is a species of Orthezia for your kind determination. It occurs here 

 (West Cliff, Custer Co., Colorado, altitude about 7700 feet above sea level) in nests 

 of an ant, Myrmica ?, and appears to be new. I submitted specimens to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and Mr. L. O. Howard writes — ' Your Coccid from an ants' 

 nest is an Orthezia which may be undescribed. It seems to differ in some respects 

 from O. americana, Walker, but there are so many described species of this genus 

 which we have not in the Museum that I hesitate to say it is new.' " 



On July 25th, in reply to my enquiry, Mr. Cockerell wrote : — 

 " I have not been able to find any more of the Orthezia. Certainly they were 

 in the ants' nest, and I cannot conjecture whether the ants took them in or they 

 were there of their own accord, but the latter seemed probable. What they feed 

 on I have no idea. There were many willows near where I found them, and much 

 herbage. Might they feed on the roots of some plant?" 



No species of Orthezia is known to feed on roots of plants. The 

 association with ants is curious and deserves investigation ; and it is 

 desirable that the species of ant should be identified : the specimen 

 sent could not be recognised here. 



The description by AValker of his Dortliesia americana (List of 

 Homopt. Ins. in Brit. Mus., iv, p. 191, 1852) is not sufficiently definite 

 to determine any species ; and the figure of what purports to be that 

 species given by Comstock in his Report for 1880, pi. ix, fig. 3, cer- 

 tainly does not represent the form now before me, nor do I know of 

 any description that will apply to it. The only other species that 

 has a scutelloid formation on each of the thoracic segments is O. 

 cataphracta, Shaw, but there they are very minute and rounded {of. 

 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1881, pi. xv, figs. 8, 10). The name is sug- 

 gested by Mr. Cockerell with reference to the western origin of the 

 species. 



[Note. — In fig. 3 the shading is much too deep, obscuring the raised points on 

 the abdomen. — E. N.]. 



Orthezia pr^lonoa, n. sp. 



$ adult (Fig. 4 ; profile 4a). Long and narrow ; pitchy-black, covered with 

 snow-white cereous laminations. Anteunro long, slender, ochreous, base and apex 

 piceous. Legs slender, ochreous. Two large, thick, laterally conjoined lamelltc 

 project over the head ; the upper surface of the body throughout covered with 

 thick cereous matter, formed of conglomerate lamellae, tlie rounded ends of which 

 do not quite reach the sides of the body, but terminate abruptly and leave the 



