no Chionaspis 



CHIONASPIS ASPIDISTR/E, Signoret. 



(Plate XXXII.) 



Chionaspis aspidistrcr^ Sign., Essai, 1869, p. 443 (125). 

 CJiioiiaspis brasiliensis^ Sign., Essai, 1869, p. 444 (127). 



Female puparium {figs. 11, 12, and 13) variable in form, but always more or 

 less elongate. In some examples {e.g., a form on Areca palm), the puparium 

 is narrow like that oi Mytilaspis. In others (as in examples from Capparis), it 

 is broadly dilated behind. Examples from Cyanotis—oihtrv^ise. quite normal — 

 have the puparium irregularly lobed {fig. 13), a formation due probably to 

 interference by the hairs of the plant during the construction of the scale. (It 

 will be noted that puparia oi Aspidiotus excisiis, on the same plant, are similarly 

 lobed.) There is considerable variation also in the substance and colour of the 

 scale. In some examples the secretionary area is thin and semi-transparent, 

 of a pale fulvous tint : in others it is stouter and more opaque, the colour 

 varying from whitish to reddish brown. In a large colony upon Areca palm, a 

 few individuals were rendered conspicuous by having nearly opaque white 

 puparia, while the rest of the colony were covered by reddish fulvous scales. 

 No difference could be detected in the structural characters of the insects them- 

 selves. Pellicles yellowish ; the second from two to two and a third times as 

 long as the first. The proportionate length of the pellicles to that of the 

 complete scale varies greatly, even in individuals of the same colony. The 

 posterior extremity of the second pellicle {fig. 17) bears almost the same 

 characters as those of the adult insect. Size of scale variable. Examples from 

 ' Mango ' average i "60 by i "o mm. The narrow form from Areca palm measures 

 about 2"o by o'6o, whilst the broad form from Capparis averages 2*40 by 175 mm., 

 numerous other examples forni(ing the connecting links. 



Male puparium {fig. 2), snowy white ; elongate, narrow, sides sub-parallel ; 

 distinctly tricarinate, the carijnae smooth and regular. Long ro mm. It is 

 remarkable that, while in spme forms {e.g., those on Fern, Strobilanihcs, 

 Amomiim, Pepper, &c.), the (male scales greatly predominate ; in others (on 

 Areca palm and Acacia inelaiipxylon) they apparently never occur. 



Adult female oblong ; brcjadest across the abdominal segments, which (in 

 the early adult) are strongly niarked and laterally produced into bluntly conical 

 processes {fig. oi). In some '^examples there is a lateral prominence on the 

 metathoracic segment also, 'these processes become less conspicuous, or even 

 obliterated, after oviposition. Colour pale yellow tinged with red on the median 

 area {fig. 9), deepening, with kge, to brownish red. Eyes blackish, on small 

 marginal prominences. Antt|nn£e with a stout curved bristle {fig. 14), which 

 in some forms (from Areca, Picus, and Acacia) is long and whip-like {fig. 15). 

 Anterior spiracles with a distinct group of rather large parastigmatic glands ; 

 sometimes a very inconspicuous group of smaller glands above the second pair 



