Notes on the Coccidae, 
a family of Homoptera, 
with a table of the species hitherto observed in Brazil. 
By T. D. A. Cockerell. 
Entomologist of the New Mexico (U. S. A.) Agricultural Experiment Station. 
The Coccidae (Scale-insects, Schildlaeusen, Cochenilles) 
constitute a very peculiar family of Homopterous insects, 
which are simply-formed through degeneration; being 
highly specialised, widely departing from the primitive 
Homopterous type. The males have but two wings (other | 
Homoptera having four), while the females are entirrly 
apterous. In the great majority of cases, the females are 
stationary on the plants when mature, unable to move 
even the shortest distance. 
Owing to the rapid multiplication of many of the 
species, and the fact that all live upon the sap of plants, 
the family is most troublesome to horticulturists in 
every part of the world; but especially in the tropics, 
where it is very numerously represented. Between 700 
and 800 species are now known for the whole world, and 
less than 150 for the neotropical region; but it is pro- 
bable, judging from the results obtained in the few loca- 
lities which have been well searched for Coccidae, that 
not less than 5000 species actually exist. 
The species are mostly small, from the size of a 
pin’s head to that of a grain of maize, but they are in 
most cases massed in quantity on the plants, and there- 
foree asy to see. They are more common on cultivated 
Revista do Museu Paulista 5 
