218 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



long in the males, which moreover are provided with a stylet 

 at the tip of the abdomen, which is recurved beneath the body. 

 The following account* contains a summary of nearly aR 

 that is known respecting the history and habits of these in- 

 sects. Early in the spring the bark-lice are found apparently 

 torpid, situated longitudinally in regard to the branch, the 

 head upwards, and sticking by their flattened inferior surface 

 closely to the bark. On attempting to remove them they are 

 generally cruslied, and there issues from the body a dark colored 

 fluid. By pricking them with a pin, they can be made to quit 

 their hold, as I have often seen in the common species, Coccus 

 Hesperidum, infesting the myrtle. A little later the body is 

 more swelled, and, on carefully raising it with a knife, numer- 

 ous oblong eggs will be discovered beneath it, and the insect 

 appears dried up and dead, and only its outer skin remains, 

 which forms a convex cover to its future progeny. Under this 

 protecting shield the young are hatched, and, on the approach 

 of warm weather, make their escape at the lower end of the 

 shield, which is either slightly elevated or notched at this part. 

 They then move with considerable activity, and disperse them- 

 selves over the young shoots or leaves. The shape of the 

 young Coccus is much like that of its parent, but the body is 

 of a paler color and more thin and flattened. Its six short 

 legs and its slender beak are visible under a magnifier. Some 

 are covered with a mealy powder, as the Coccus Cacti, or 

 cochenille of commerce, and the Coccus Adonidum, or mealy 

 bug of our greenhouses. Others are hairy or woolly; but 

 most of them are naked and dark colored. These young 

 lice insert their beaks into the bark or leaves, and draw from 

 the cellular substance the sap that nourishes them. Reaumur 

 observed the ground quite moist under peach-trees infested 

 with bark-lice, which was caused by the dripping of the sap 

 from the numerous punctures made by these insects. While 

 they continue their exhausting suction of sap, they increase in 

 size, and during this time are in what is called the larva state. 

 When this is completed, the insects will be found to be of 



* It was drawn up by me in the year 1828, and published in the seventh 

 volume of the "New England Farmer," pp. 186, 187. 



