29 i 



[Doccmbor, 



omits the first "i" in liis notes of the genus. Subsequent writers 

 have ai^reed to correct this spelliuLi;. in accordance with its derivation 

 from the name Lecnnium. 



Prof. Cockerell appears to have been the first to recognise the 

 old genus Lecnniodiaspis in Mr. Douglas's later genus Prosopoplwra. 



Lecaniodtaspis (Prosopophora) dendrobii, Douglas. 

 Having occasion to examine specimens of this insect (apparently 

 part of the original material from Demerara, from Mr. Newstead's 



collection), I find that the five 

 pairs of perforated discs are situ- 

 ated on the dorsum, not on the 

 iinder-surface, as described by Mr. 

 Douglas. In none of my examples 

 have I been able to find the anterior 

 triangular series of similar discs 

 mentioned in the original descrip- 

 tion. The marginal blunt spines 

 are three (sometimes four) on each 

 side ; the first and second corres- 

 ponding in position to the stigmatic 

 spines of Lecnnium ; the third almost midway between them. When 

 a fourth is present, it is a reduplication of the first. The chitinous 

 arch above the anal ring is not quite accurately figured or described. 

 It is not an even band, but is deeply emarginate on its posterior edge, 

 and there is a dense chitinous plate on the inner margin of each anal 

 lobe (see figure), the two plates meeting and becoming confluent above 

 the anal cleft. 



BiRcniPPiA, Green, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. vi, 

 November, 1900, p. 450. 

 Prof. Cockerell has kindly drawn my attention to the fact that 

 this genus is distinctly Lecaniodiaspid. Comparison with Lecnniodi- 

 aspis dendrobii and other allied species makes it quite certain that 

 this is so ; in fact, I can now see no good generic difference between 

 Birchippia and Lecaniodinspis itself. The structure of the anal ring, 

 the blunt lateral spines, the peculiar form of the spinnerets and ducts, 

 are all typical. The perforated discs on the dorsum, though small 

 and inconspicuous in Birchippia, can be located. Under these cir- 

 cumstances I am of opinion that the genus Birchippia should be 

 considered a synonym of Lecnniodiaspis. The species will ai)parently 

 remain good. 'I'he smooth test, without polygonal depressions or 



