22 [June, 



? . Scale elongate, straight or cuvved, mussel-shaped, flat-convex transversely, 

 yellowish-brown, the margin distinctly white, the larval exuviae about one-fourth of | 

 the entire length, concolorous or darker, also witli a white margin, the next pellicle 

 very long. Bouche says {I. c.) " Similar to A. pomorum, hut smaller, flatter, smoother, 

 and with a broader, paler margin ;" to which may be added the colour is much 

 lightei". Length, 3 mm. 



y adult long, flat, yellow ; the sides posteriorly serrate ; the last segment witli 

 five groups of spinnerets — anterior 4, anterior lateral 5, inferior lateral 4, each, be- 

 tween them and near the posterior margin many isolated spinnerets ; the margin 

 has two trifoliate median lobes, followed on each side with two much smaller, and 

 six or seven spines. 



(? scale not half the length of the ? , straight. 



(J imago small, yellowish-white, the transverse band of the metathorax dark, 

 antennae and legs pubescent, abdomen short (Signoret). 



On a leaf of the orchid C^mbidium pendulum, received from the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew, was a numerous colony of the scales in 

 all stages of existence. Bouche states that his examples were on 

 Cynibidium aToifolium ; Signoret says on " les Cymbidium \'' the species 

 probably lives on various orchids. 



POLIASPIS CYCADIS. 

 Poliaspis cycadis, Comstock, Eeport for 1883, p. 126, fig. 15. 



$ scale snowy-white, larval exuviae yellowish ; greatly widened posteriorly as 

 in $ Chionaspis. Size in the adult state varies considerably ; the average may be 

 stated as, length 3, breadth r75 mm. 



? adult greenish-yellow, oval ; the five ordinary groups of spinnerets containing, 

 anterior 2 — 4, anterior lateral 8 — 13, posterior lateral 18 — 25 each, the three superior 

 groups each with 2 — 4 spinnerets ; median lobes of the margin prominent, outwardly 

 serrate, 2nd lobe deeply incised : plates slender and cylindrical, one at the side of 

 Ist and 2nd lobes, and four or five on the lateral margin of the three or four pre- 

 ceding segments : two spines between the median lobes, and a few others on the 

 mai'gin. 



<J scale snow-white, small, narrow, parallel-sided ; exuviae at one end ; surface 

 slightly convex transversely, no carinae. Length, 1 mm. 



I have not seen a ^J imago. It is described as " bright orange- 

 red, with thoracic band of same colour ; eyes black ; first five seg- 

 ments of antennae purplish-red, the other five yellow" (Comstock). 



Maskell (Trans. N. Z. Inst., xii, 293, 1879) instituted the genus 

 Poliaspis, an offset of Mytilaspis, and characterized it as "having the 

 spinnerets in more than five groups, and in a double row, the edge of 

 the abdomen as in Diaspis. Signoret forms a genus Leucaspis which 

 possesses the same characters, but it has also a fringe of spiny hairs 

 set close together round the edge of the abdomen, which fringe is 

 absent in Poliaspis^ 



Comstock (l. c.) says of Poliaspis — " I am far from feeling sure 

 that the genus will prove to be a natural one." The same may really 



