90 "E. P. Stebbing — On the acquisition of alar appendages. [Apr. 1903. 



The species here described as new to India are the following : — 

 Verbascnm erianthum Benth. ; Linaria Qriffithii Benth.; Linaria odora 

 Bieb. ; Scrophularia cabulica Benth. ; Adenosma inopinatum n. sp. ; 

 Adenosma hirsutum Kurz ; Herpestis chameedryoides H. B. & K. ; 

 Torenia Benthamiana Hanee ; Vandellia punctata n. sp. ; Phtheirospermum 

 tenuisectum Bur. & Franch. ; Pedicularis diffusa Prain ; Lathraea 

 purpurea Cummins. 



6. On the acquisition of alar appendages by the Spruce form of 

 Chermes abietis-pice&.—By &. P. Stebbing, I.F.S., F.L.S. 



(Abstract.) 



In July, 1893, Mr. Smythies, late Conservator of Forests, in the 

 Central Provinces, discovered the winged form of a species of Chermes 

 issuing from galls on Spruce (Picea Morinda) trees, at Deoban, in the- 

 Jaunsar Forests of the N.-W. Himalayas (elevation 9,200 ft.) These 

 insects were identified by Mr. G. B. Buckfcon, F.R.S., as belonging to 

 the species Chermes abietis of Linnaeus and Kaltenbach. 



In the spring and early summer of 1901 and 1902 I had opportu- 

 nities of studiug this Chermes and discovered the interesting and impor- 

 tant fact that, whereas in the case of the European species, one genera- 

 tion of the insect is spent on the Spruce whilst another is passed upon 

 the larch, in the N.-W. Himalayas the other generation of the parallel 

 series is passed, not upon the larch which is not found in those moun- 

 tains, but upon the silver fir (Abies Webbiana). For this reason, I call 

 the insect provisionally Chermes abietis- pice as. 



The note deals shortly with the egg and larval stages, the latter 

 being speut in chambers within the gall. 



It then describes fully the way in which the diamond-shaped covers 

 of the chambers, into which the gall is divided, open along their upper 

 edges into a narrow lip-shaped slit by which the larvae leave the Spruce 

 gall or false cone, for it looks like a young fir cone go through their 

 final moult, and appear with their alar appendages folded up in tight 

 little rolls upon the thorax. These latter almost immediately unroll 

 under the influence of the sun and warm air currents. At this stage, 

 the insect is remarkably brightly coloured. The colours soon darken, 

 however, and about a couple of hours after leaving the chamber in 

 the gall the insect is dull-coloured and inconspicuous. 



