Maskell. — On Coccididae. 23 



Sac of male white, smaller than that of the female. 



Larva yellow, flattish, naked, active, elliptical; length 

 about Y77in. Margin bearing spines set rather closely together ; 

 and on the dorsum are two median longitudinal rows of similar 

 spines. Antennae of six joints. Feet rather thick, normal of 

 the genus. Anal tubercles scarcely prominent, with long 

 setae. 



Female of second stage red or dark-brown, flattish, active, 

 elliptical ; length about ^ in. Marginal spines stronger than 

 in the larva, and bearing glassy tubes forming an irregular 

 fringe. Anal tubercles large and conspicuous. Antennae of 

 six joints. 



Adult female red ; 'elliptical in the cephahc and thoracic 

 regions, and tapering posteriorly. Length about -^in. Mar- 

 gins bearing double rows of spines ; dorsum with two median 

 longitudinal series of spines, and several others singly. An- 

 tennae of six joints, the third the longest. Feet normal of 

 the genus, the tibia much shorter than the tarsus ; all the 

 digitules are fine knobbed hairs. Anal tubercles two, conspi- 

 cuous, with short setae. Anogenital ring with eight hairs. 



Adult male reddish-bro-^-n ; length about ^in. It appears 

 to exhibit no special features. 



Hah. In Australia, on bark of Lept<)spenmim Icevigatum. 

 My specimens were sent to me by Mr. French. 



This insect, in the general peg-top shape of the adult 

 female, resembles E. holierus, Mask., a New Zealand species 

 which also constructs similar sacs on the bark of its food- 

 plant. The Australian form differs in the character of the 

 spines, in having only two anal tubercles, and in not having 

 its feet atrophied in the adult stage. Both species seem to be 

 aUke ill *heir tendency to be covered with black fungus, which 

 renders them very inconspicuous on the bark of the tree. 



Subdivision DACTYLOPID^. 

 Genus Dacttlopits, Costa. 



Dactylopius poae, Maskell. Scale-Ins. of X.Z., p. 101 ; X.Z. 



Trans., vol. xi., p. 220. 



I received some months ago from !Mi-. Eaithby a number 

 of insects which I cannot distinguish from tliis species, but 

 which inhabited, instead of the roots of grasses underground, 

 the tangled moss and small cKmbing-plants clothing the roots 

 and stems of various trees in the forests of the Eeefton dis- 

 trict. Like the insects from grass, as mentioned in my last 

 paper (Trans., vol. xxii., p. 150), these from trees seemed not 

 to excrete a great quantity of cotton in their natural habita- 

 tion, but on being removed to tubes covered themselves at 

 once with large tufts of cotton. 



