THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 137 



partly through want of time, and partly from a feeling of re- 

 luctance to write upon the subject of a family of insects, the 

 scientific history of which, as yet, I am not too familiar with. With 

 the practical part I have had unfortunately too much experience, 

 as the scale insects are about the most difficult of all insect pests 

 to deal with, especially when in the orchard, vineyard or garden, 

 to say nothing of our forests, whose trees for hundreds of miles in 

 extent are often badly infested — so bad, indeed, as to be in many 

 cases killed outright. 



In another part of the paper I have given my reasons for 

 extending these notes, the greater part of the scientific matter 

 for which having been taken from Mr. Maskell's book, and it is 

 due to the friendship and assistance of this gentleman that the idea 

 of my preparing some notes on so important a family of insects 

 originated. 



In part ii. I shall give popular descriptions of the species 

 dealt with, these being taken mostly from my own observations 

 and experience, together with illustrations enlarged from plates 

 which Mr. Maskell has kindly had prepared for me. It is not my 

 intention to say much to you about the imported species of scale 

 insects, and which are unfortunately too numerous, as my book 

 on insect pests, part ii. of which will soon be published, will con- 

 tain notices, with coloured figures, of the kinds which have been 

 found by experience to be the most injurious to plant life. 



In preparing these few brief notes on the subject of our scale 

 insects (and which I trust someone else having more time for 

 field work than I have will supplement), it may be remarked 

 that the Coccidae are most of them injurious to plants, both under 

 cultivation and in the natural state. 



The origin of the name " Coccidae," as Mr. Maskell explains 

 in his most valuable work on this family of insects, is found in 

 the old Greek word " kokkos," denoting a rich red dye, which 

 was much admired by the Greeks and Romans, and which was 

 procured from the insect now known as Kermes vermilio — the 

 Coccus ilicis of Linnaeus. 



When the cochineal insect was discovered in Mexico it soon 

 overpowered all the others producing commercial dyes, and from 

 it has come the title of " Coccid," now applied to the whole 

 family. Cochineal itself has of late years been pushed aside to 

 a great extent by the aniline (coal-tar) dyes, yet it is still used 

 for many purposes. This insect lives on an Opuntia, a sort of 

 cactus, to which the prickly pear also belongs. Mr. Maskell 

 mentions a New Zealand species, Dactyhpus alpinus, as pro- 

 ducing a red dye similar to, though probably not equal to 

 cochineal, and he also remarks that before the discovery, of 

 aniline dyes it might possibly have been worth while to cultivate 

 this insect for its dve. 



