SCALE INSECTS (" COCCID^ •) OF AUSTRALIA. 



27 



tlie adult fouiale forming the test is dark red to black in colour, broad at 



the base and ooming up to blunt ])oint 



at the apex, like a large rose thorn; 



viewed from above it is seen to be 



fluted, with four distinct ridges. The 



outer surface is smooth, with fine white 



filaments curling through the openings 



in the test. Height of test, a quarter 



of an inch. Diameter base, one-fifth 



of an inch. 



The adult female is bright red, apex 

 shining, anal appendages and tubes 

 tipped with black, anal tip i)rojecting, 

 fringed with fine bristle-like hairs, with 

 fine spine above. Diameter, one-sixth 



of an inch. Fig. te.—Tachardia anguluta. 



Tachardia australis, Froggatt (Ffg. 17). 



Agric. Gazette, N.H.W., vol. x, p. 1161, 1899. 



This lac insect was first collected by nie upon the branchlets of a small 

 native scrub shrub {Benieria riscosa), near Narrabri, N.S.W. Later 



on I found it in large quantities 

 on the young wood of MelaletKa 

 sp., grooving near Bundaberg, 

 Queensland. 



It is figured in the plate of 

 lac-producmg coccids with the 

 original description, and from a 

 commercial point of view, might be 

 of some value if cultivated in our 

 ti-tree swamps. 



The female tests vary consider- 

 ably, the typical ones like a leaf 

 of dark reddish wax, the basal half 

 dull with the upper portion a shin- 

 ing round bead of bright red wax. 

 In the Queensland specimens the 

 wax is more confluent, forming 

 Fig. 17. Tachurdia austraiis. luasses ill rings roiuul the twigs 



