114 SCIENCE BULLETIN, No. 18. 



SUB-FAMILY Vi .—BrachyscelincB, Froggatt. 



This di\dsion of the Coccidae contains the typical gall-making coccids, 

 within which galls the males and females develop with the giowth of the 

 aborted woody tissue. In most cases the male and female galls are distinct 

 structures, but in a few the males and females are found within the same gall. 

 The active, flattened, oval larvae attach themselves to the bark of the branch 

 or twig, or to the surface of the leaf, and through the irritation set up the 

 woody tissue swells up round them until they are perfectly enclctcd in a 

 box-like gall. There is usually an apical orifice at the anal extremity, but 

 this opening may be on the upper or under side of the leaf. 



The adult female is top-shaped, irregularly rounded, or elongate, sometimes 

 attached to the inner surface of the gall, in others fitting closely into the gall 

 chamber, but perfectly free and not attached to the woody tissue by the 

 rostrum. The legs and antennse are usually more or less aborted, sometimes 

 wanting. While the members of the genus ApiomorpJia only infest the 

 stems and foliage of Eucalyptus, others are more general in their habits. 

 The integument is often stout and leathery, clothed with fine hairs and rows 

 of short spines on the apical segments of the abdomen, the anal segment 

 produced into a pair, or a single chitinous tail. 



These gall coccids were first noticed and described in the Transactions 

 of the Entomological Society of New South Wales in 1862, by Mr. H. L. Schrader, 

 but nothing more was done until 1892, when the writer published his " Notes 

 on the Family Brachyscelid(B, with some account of their Parasites, and 

 descriptions of new species " in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New 

 South Wales, which was followed by four other papers in the series. 



In the following year, Mr. I. G. 0. Tepper published " Descriptiors of 

 South Australian Brachyscelid Galls " {Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 South Australia, 1893). In dealing with Australian galls, Mr. E. H. 

 Rubsaamen figured and described other species in the Berliner Enicmckg 

 Zeitschrift, 1894. In the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 1896, 

 Mr. C. Ftdler described some species, and added to the list in the Transacticrs 

 of the Entomological Society of London, 1899. 



The foUowina; genera of this sub-family are found in Australia : — Genus 

 XLIII, Apiomorpha, XLIV Opisthoscelis, XLV Ascelis, XLVI Cystococcus. 

 XL ( II Frenchia. 



