244 [March, 1886. 



Goccidce,^' because they are cosmopolitan, and wherever the plants 

 that they affect grow, there the insects will be present. It seems, 

 therefore, necessary to state that the term " British " is only employed 

 in the usual zoological sense, not to indicate that the insects are ex- 

 clusively British (the foreign origin of most of the names negatives 

 this), but that the species inhabit or have been introduced into Britain. 

 Although it is true that a comprehensive philosophical idea of species 

 and generic groups can only be obtained by the study of forms from 

 all parts of the earth, yet it must be remembered that the great ma- 

 jority of the collectors of insects in Britain are only able to give 

 attention to those within their immediate reach, and it is to aid and 

 encourage such, with reference to Coccidce, that is now my primary 

 object. 



In a new field of research the acquisitions, if not absolutely new 

 to science, are at any rate new to the collector, and the pleasure of 

 their discovery is only second in degree to that of him who finds a 

 species unknown before. Of this Kingsley speaks in his " Glaucus " 

 as " the delight of finding a new species, of rescuing (as it seems to 

 you) one more thought of the divine mind from Hela, and the realms 

 of the unknown, unclassified, uncomprehended." There are many 

 delights in store for those M^ho will work up the Coccidce with even a 

 portion of the attention that has hitherto been given to Lepidoptera 

 and Coleoptera. 



Fortified with a competent knowledge of our native or introduced 

 Coccidce, any one who may have the opportunity will be better pre- 

 pared to enter on the study of the whole cycle of the existence of 

 these organisms ; and the best modern guides will be found in the 

 works of Signoret and Targioni-Tozzetti for Europe, Comstock for 

 America, and Maskell for New Zealand. 



Eor the information of enquirers as to what they are to look for, 

 where the objects are to be found, and when, I subjoin a brief summary 

 of the prima facie aspect in their ultimate state of such scales as are 

 most likely to occur in this country, either in the open air or under 

 glass, but this list is not exhausted ; together with a list of the plants 

 upon which they have been obtained, omitting those species mentioned 

 in this or my preceding paper. The time of the year can, as a rule, 

 be given only as spring or summer, for in most cases it has not been 

 more precisely stated. The object should be to get the scales as soon 

 as may be before the wonderfully formed males emerge ; the greater 

 interest attaches to this in that the male of many species is not known, 

 and without this knowledge the natural history of the species is im- 



