136 Mr. K. Kunhi Kannan on 



shortened and straight. The insect is ovoviviparous, but a few 

 eggs may be found laid occasionally. Reproduction continues for 

 about a month and a half after reaching the adult stage. The 

 number of young produced may reach over 500. 



The newly hatched larva is of a pale greenish-yellow, broadly 

 oval. The antennae three-segmented as in the adult. The relative 

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

 the nymphs of Coccus viridis. Male unknown. 



Length of adult 2-4 mm. 



It may perhaps appear necessary to create a separate 

 subgenus for the reception of this new species, but I cannot 

 decide the question until I have made a more detailed 

 study of the group and examined C. acutissimus and 

 P. expansum. 



The sudden formation of C. colemani made it appear 

 probable that Coccus viridis was unstable. Green himself 

 says that a new variety of his species was created by 

 Mr. Newstead from specimens obtained from Lagos, but 

 " that sufficient material was not examined to establish 

 the fact." The report of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Uganda, for the year 1916 states that a new form of " green 

 bug "' found along with the typical form but with eight- 

 segmented antennae and described by Mr. Newstead 

 originally as a subspecies has been given specific rank 

 under the name Coccus africanvm. There was therefore 

 considerable justification for the belief that Coccus viridis 

 was a mutating species. Requests for specimens were 

 therefore made to the Entomologists of the Agricultural 

 Departments of all countries where green bug occurs, but 

 so far they have been received only from Ceylon, Java, 

 Hawaii, Seychelles, and Honolulu. Samples sent from 

 Uganda were unfortunately lost in transit. The material 

 obtained is of very great interest. 



The specimens from Ceylon, Hawaii, Seychelles, and 

 Honolulu are all true to the description of Green. The 

 Javan specimens, on the other hand, exhibit an enormous 

 variation. Prof. Keuchenius of Java remarks in a letter 

 received from him that "the variability of Lecaniurn 

 (Coccus) viride is a difficult and troublesome question. 

 Green in his standard work does not mention at all any 

 variability, and therefore in the beginning 1 thought that 

 1 had to do with two different species, but afterwards 1 



