1<S Bullriiii (le la Societc Eìiloniuloyiqiic d'Eyyplf: 



il am much indebted to Mr. Lainy- oï the British 

 Museum (Natural History) for identifying it as Phena- 

 coccus hirsiitus Green. Mr. E. E. Green also very 

 kindly sho^ved me some of his preparations and there 

 is no doubt that the Hibiscus Mealy Bu<.i is that species. 



Phcnacocciis hirsutus Green %\as originally des- 

 cribed (Mem. Dcpt. A.gric. India. 1908 p. 20) from 

 material obtained from India and Tasmania. Mr. 

 Green remaiks : ' it is closely allied to Ph. aceris 

 Sign, from which it may be distinguished by the re- 

 latively shorter and stouter antennae, by the propor- 

 tionately longer tarsi, and by the absence of a denti- 

 cnle on the inner edge of the claw». My specimens 

 differ slightly from Mr. Green's description in that 

 the division between the 8th and 0th joints of the an- 

 tennae is well marked whilst the two sharply point- 

 ed spines are not confined to the anal lobes and two 

 preceding segments but occur on the anal lobes and 

 five preceding segments. 



Phcnacocciis hirsutiis Green is rec^orded from 

 India as damaging mulberry, cotton, sugar-cane, Fi- 

 cus rclifilosa, Eugenia janibolana, Cilrus decumana. 

 On mulberry it gave rise to the disease known as 

 «Tukra disease of mulberry» and on cotton it seems 

 to have been particularly troublesome, occurring side 

 by side with Pseudococcus virgatus Ckll. The cater- 

 pillars (>r lùihli'iniììa i\uadriiincüla and Spalgius epius 

 ioiioWivy with a ('.ecidomyid, certain (^halcidae and 

 possibly also a Drosophilid were found to be preda- 

 ceous on the larval and adult female (Pioc. 3rd Ent. 

 M(M>1. India. Noi. o pp fi/iç) and 610). 



It is highly probable that this pest was introduc- 



