1912.] E. E. GREEN: Coccidae in the Indian Museum. 67 
careful microscopical examination, minute rudiments of antennae 
may be distinguished, but of buccal apparatus there is practically 
no sign, though Giard asserts that it exists andis functional. He 
remarks :—‘‘ The suctorial filaments are completely retractile in 
the active larva, as also in the nymph. Consequently, the very 
small mouth is easily overlooked, especially in M. vitiwm where 
the buccal plates are completely rudimentary and where nothing 
in the general form of the insect reveals the position of the 
opening. The sucking tubes are shed at each moult, but the 
animal never becomes really astomatous until the last transforma- 
tion.’’ The mouth-parts are, however, so very much reduced, 
that it is difficult to believe that much nourishment can be taken 
in by the usual means during this stage. Mayet suggests that the 
insects may absorb liquid food (? by osmosis) through the skin. 
Coccidae are peculiar amongst the natural order Rhynchota, 
in that the males normally undergo a complete metamorphosis, 
passing through an active larval and a passive pupal stage before 
appearing in the adult winged form. But, with the exception of 
Margarodes and its allies (included in the subfamily Margarodinae), 
the female Coccid, though undergoing certain changes of form, 
continues to feed and grow throughout its development. In the 
case of Margarodes, after remaining for a considerable period 
(possibly extending over years, in adverse conditions) in this 
resting stage, the female eventually breaks through the cyst and 
reappears as a normal hexapod insect (see fig. 15). The anterior 
limbs are specially adapted for digging. Their femora are greatly 
thickened: the tibia and tarsus are fused together for greater 
strength, and terminate in a stout horny claw (figs. 19 to 22). 
The antennae of the adult female are comparatively short and 
stout, gradually tapering to the extremity, of from 7 to g joints. 
All observers agree that the adult female has no trace of a 
rostrum or buccal apparatus of any kind. It would appear, 
therefore, that the insect must take in a sufficient store of nutri- 
ment during the larval stage (which is probably prolonged for 
some time after the formation of the cyst) to sustain it during the 
succeeding nymphal and imaginal stages. We find a_ similar 
condition in certain Lepidoptera in which the adult insects take 
no food. 
The early development of the male insect has apparently 
never been observed. Whether the male larva proceeds fo secrete 
a cyst similar to that of the female, or whether it constructs a 
specialized puparium, is notknown. Themales arescarce, in collec- 
tions, and have usually been captured on the wing, or running on 
the ground. If it were not for the characteristic front legs, there 
would be little reason to connect these males with the female 
Margarodes. Fortunately this connection has been actually 
established. Prof. Cockerell (The American Naturalist, vol. xxxiii, 
_ No. 389, p. 415) describes the discovery of ‘“‘a couple of small 
winged insects, hurrying to and fro (on the ground) as if they 
had lost something.... Presently, one of them began to dig into 
