LIFE HISTORY OF NEW SPECIES 16 



and from 30 to 80 microns apart. Colour pale lemon-yellow to 

 greenish-yellow. Shape oval, the anterior end being narrower but 

 liable to variation in specimens fixed on to the sides of the veins of leaves 

 in which the anterior end may be more or less acuminate and either 

 right or left side may be shortened. The insect is ovoviviparous but 

 a few eggs are found laid occasionally. 



Reproduction continues for about a month and a half after reach- 

 ing the adult stage. The number of young may reach over 500. 



The newly hatched larva is very pale lemon-yellow, broadly oval. 

 The antennae three-segmented as in the adult. The number and rela- 

 tive lengths of the segments as in the adult. Other characters as in 

 the nymphs of C. viridis. Adult female from 2 mm. to 4 mm. Male 

 unknown. 



The Life History of Coccus colemani. 



The life history hereafter described is of this new 

 species. It is important to emphasize this point because 

 apart from the structural differences between C. viridis 

 and G. colemani there is a considerable difference in the 

 reproductive powers. Green gives the number of young 

 produced as seldom more than 20, but later on corrects 

 himself by saying that immature eggs have been found 

 inside the body after the first brood (of apparently 20) had 

 hatched. What the total number of young produced by an 

 individual is has not been stated. 



Koningsberger and Zimmermann^ in their descrip- 

 tion of the Javan form point out that the number of eggs 

 in an individual indicated very much greater powers of 

 reproduction than Green described. They found as high 

 as 150 eggs in an individual. Their observations have 

 been recently confirmed by Keuchenius'^ There can be 

 no doubt from the size of the Javan forms that their re- 

 productive powers must be much more than those of the 

 much smaller Ceylon forms. Green^ was not wrong so far 

 as the Ceylon form is concerned. A number of specimens 

 received from Ceylon, when microscopically examined, 

 did not show more than 100 eggs in the body. There 

 can be no doubt that, in the case of the several forms 

 called green bug, in addition to the usual factors of size, 

 kind of host plant, etc., another important factor has 



^ An Instance of Mutation ; Coccus viridis (Green) a Mutant from 

 Pulvinaria psidii (Maskell), read before the Indian Science Congress 

 1917, by Mr. K. Kunhi Kannan, 



■^ Loc. cit., part 2, p. 10, 



^ tioc. cit., part 12, . 



