1912.] E. E. Green : Coccidae in the Indian Museum. 9 



some of these bodies hatched into stout, soft^ hairy, grub-like 

 creatures. (These are the adult females. Specimens kept in my 

 laboratory have continued to hatch out, at irregular intervals, 

 through the past year. E. E. G.). Egg-masses of this Ground 

 Pearl were observed in the soil at a depth of 2-3 inches. The 

 cells in which the eggs were found were long-oval, lined inside 

 with a coating of mealy wax. Hundreds of eggs were found filling 

 up the interior of each cell. The dead mother scale — shrivelled 

 and rotten — was to be found at one pole of the cell .... When 

 about to hatch it (the egg) assumes a pinkish colour. The just 

 hatched larvae are somewhat flattened, with bright red ej^es." 



On the strength of Mr. Rao's careful observations, and having 

 regard to the strong development of the rostral apparatus ob- 

 served in some of my examples, as well as to the great increase in 

 size that takes place during the nymphal development, my pre- 

 viously expressed opinion {loc. cit., p. 67) that the larva of 

 Margarodes " must take in a sufficient store of nutriment to 

 sustain it during the succeeding nymphal and imaginal stages," 

 must be modified so far as the nymph is conceriled. 



Our knowledge of the two species just described is not yet com- 

 plete. Of M. papillosus the larva still remains to be observed. 

 Judging b}^ the close resembance of the adult female to that of 

 M. mcditenaneus, I anticipate that the larva, when discovered, 

 will be found to possess but a single pair of legs, and that 

 its antennae will be only 3-jointed. Of M. niger the male is 

 still unknown. And the serial development of the insect, from 

 the larva to the final stage of the nymph, requires elucidation — in 

 both species. These problems can be solved only by observation 

 on the spot where the insects occur in life. 



