Maskell. — On Coccidge. 311 



than the others. Feet rather swollen ; digitules fine hairs. 

 Margin of body minutely serrated. Terminal setae rather long. 



Lecanium 'berberidis (?), Schrank. 



Mr. French has sent me some specimens of a very large 

 Lecanium, on vine (Vitis vinifera), from Melbourne, which, 

 after much consideration, I have decided to attach to this 

 species. I have never seen the type, but Signoret gives a 

 fairly full description of the insect (Ann. de la Soc. Entom. 

 de France, 1873, p. 403). My specimens from Melbourne 

 agree with the characters therein given as regards size, 

 colour, dorsal carination, the sparse punctuation, the pro- 

 portions and hairs of the antennal joints (almost), both of 

 adult and larva, and in other characters. I think, however, 

 that the fourth antennal joint of the adult is considerably 

 longer than the fifth. 



The principal difference which I can detect is in the feet. 

 Signoret says that in the type of berberidis the tarsi of the 

 anterior feet and the tibiae of the median pair are considerably 

 swollen. I do not see this in the Melbourne insects. But 

 in the "Entomological Monthly Magazine," 1891, p. 267, 

 there is a paper by Mr. Newstead on the alteration of some 

 Lecanids by the action of parasites, in the course of which he 

 says, " While some parasites may not materially affect the 

 exterior of the scale, they are quite capable of malforming 

 the antennae and legs." I quite agree with this view, and 

 it is partly on this account that I have (I think) never de- 

 scribed a species without examination of several individuals, 

 in order to ensure as far as possible having uninjured forms. 

 It is quite possible that the malformation mentioned by 

 Signoret in his European insects, and of which he says, 

 "This is a specific character which I have seldom met with," 

 may have been due to parasitism. 



I have not seen any mention of berberidis by other authors 

 since Signoret wrote, and it does not seem to be a British 

 species. For the present I shall leave the insect with a note 

 of interrogation. It is a large species, measuring about Jin. 

 in length, very convex, and in all probability would be very 

 considerably injurious. 



Lecanium baccatum, Maskell. 



I have received several specimens of the second stage of 

 this fine species from Mr. Froggatt, on Acacia longifolia, and 

 from Mr. Musson, on Acacia linearis, both from New South 

 Wales. Tliese specimens, when they arrived alive, exhibited 

 the beautiful bluish, almost nacreous, colour mentioned in 

 my paper of 1892 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxv., p. 217), but 

 since they have been in my cabinet I find that they have lost 



