Maskell. — On Coccididae. 95 



powdered with white meal, and with much white meal also in 

 the cavity of the gall. The form is subglobular, tapering 

 somewhat posteriorly ; the segments are obscure ; the length 

 varies, but may average about jV^- ^^^^ antennas are almost 

 atrophied, and appear to have only two very short jomts, of 

 which the second bears a few hairs. The mentum is dimerous. 

 !Feet entirely absent. There are four large spiracles. The 

 epidermis bears a number of circular multilocular spinnerets 

 interspersed with very fine spiny hairs, and on the last ab- 

 dominal segments the spinnerets are more numerous and the 

 hairs longer. Anal tubercles entirely absent ; anal ring 

 simple. 



Female of the second stage not observed. 



Larva yellow, flattish, elliptical, active ; length about -gQin. 

 Antennse of six joints, the first much broader than the rest, 

 all subequal in length, the last bears some hairs, of which 

 one is rather long. Feet short ; the femur is rather thick 

 and swollen; tibia shorter than the tarsus; claw slender; 

 digitules all line knobbed hairs. Mentum conical, dimerous. 

 The margin of the body bears a row of longish spines. The 

 anal tubercles are reduced to mere dots, and the setae are no 

 longer than the marginal spines. 



Male not observed by me. Mr. Froggatt has sent me a 

 sketch of it, and says that it is red, with antennae of nine 

 joints, all with long hairs; wings opaline; abdomen very 

 elongated, with the first three joints short, the rest long and 

 tapering, and terminating in a pointed short spike. This male 

 "would thus resemble generally the male of Sphcer. leptosioermi. 



Hah. In Australia, on Melaleuca linariifolia. Mr. Froggatt 

 has sent me many specimens from Flemington, near Sydney, 

 and I have much pleasure in dedicating to him this species, 

 which, in the very peculiar and elegant form of the gall, seems 

 to be entirely distinct. 



Sphserococcus pirogallis, sp. nov. Plate VII., figs. 8-19. 

 Insects inhabiting small pear-shaped woody galls attached 

 by very short stalks to a twig. The colour of these galls 

 varies with age : in the earliest state they are usually bright- 

 green, and are then frequently combined in a small mass. As 

 they grow they become slightly tinged with red, then com- 

 pletely red, then a dark reddish-grey, and finally dull-grey 

 speckled with small black spots : in this last state they are 

 usually separate, but sometimes two are still joined together. 

 Being frequently congregated in bunches containing very 

 numerous individuals and covering the twigs, they may very 

 easily (especially in their red condition) be taken for fruits or 

 flower-buds, and they have very little resemblance at first 

 sight to the work of an insect : in fact, they look then as 



