96 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



have proved on examination to be specimens of Orthezia floccosa, 

 De Geer. They were found " on some old and wet timber at the 

 300-feet level in a mine in Gippsland, Victoria," a truly remark- 

 able situation in which to find living Coccidae ! The food of 

 0. floccosa has not been absolutely determined in Europe. The 

 insects are usually found amongst wet moss or Sphagnum, and it 

 is possible that they may feed either on these mosses or upon 

 Algae associated therewith. All the species of Orthezia appear 

 to be able to exist for long periods without food (a characteristic 

 found also in many Monophlebinse). It is possible that these 

 individuals from the mine may have been carried down from the 

 surface with the timber, and to have sustained themselves upon 

 small cryptogamic plants during their sojourn underground. 

 These same examples survived the journey by post from 

 Australia to Ceylon, absolutely without food, and are still living 

 in the pill-box in which they were received. 



In comparing the insects with European species for the pur- 

 poses of determination I noticed a character in 0. floccosa which 

 does not appear to have been remarked before, distinguishing it 

 from all its allies, but connecting it with Ortheziola. The tibio- 

 tarsal articulation is absent in all the legs, and the terminal seg- 

 ment of the antenna is apparently composed of two fixed joints, 

 forming a scape-like termination, the antennge thus consisting of 

 seven distinct joints as in Ortheziola to ei^ht in other species. 

 In Ortheziola another remarkable character is the very long basal 

 joint of the antennae ; the number is still further reduced, three 

 only being apparent. 



Signoret (Essai, p. 424) considers floccosa to be a synonym of 

 urtica', L., but it seems evident to me that he has confused the 

 two species in his description, and figures (plate xxi., fig. ib) 

 which Signoret suggests (with a query) may be male larvae of 

 urticai is really the adult of floccosa. His drawing correctly 

 represents it with fixed tibio-tarsus and long terminal joint to the 

 seven-jointed antennae. 



This is the first record of an Orthezia from the Australasian 

 region. I have compared the Australian insect with examples 

 from Bohemia and England, and it agrees with the typical form 

 in every character. With this connecting link it is a question 

 whether Ortheziola should rank as more than a sub-genus. 

 Another sub-genus might be erected for the species having fixed 

 tibio-tarsus with seven-jointed antennae. I would suggest the name 

 Douglasia for the proposed sub-genus, in honour of the veteran 

 entomologist whose valuable papers on CoccidcC were a feature 

 of the '■ Annals " for so many years. Type, Douylasia floccosa. 



