423 



THE EGYPTIAN TCERYA. 



This insect, treated in No. 3 of the current volume, is attracting 

 great attention in Egypt. Through the kindness of Mr. Louis B. Grant, 

 acting consul-general at Cairo, and of the Department of State, this 

 Department has received copies of publications from Alexandria and 

 Cairo from which it seems that the insect is even more injurious than 

 our previous information, through Mr. D. Morris, led us to suppose. 

 It is by no means confined to fig trees, but has attacked oranges and 

 lemons. It will be remembered that Mr. J. W. Douglas founded for 

 this insect the new genus Crossotosoma, and that after an examination of 

 his figures and description we decided to place it in Tcerya. We have re- 

 cently received letters from Mr. Douglas who has also very kindly sent us 

 specimens of the adult female and the newly hatched young from which 

 we are able to confirm our conclusion. The insect is unquestionably an 

 Icerya and a good species. Mr. Douglas himself admits our generic 

 placing, but thinks that the characters of the genus will have to be 

 added to. Professor Brocchi, of Paris, has also written us that he has 

 had specimens sent him from Alexandria and that he is fully convinced 

 that it is an Icerya, while he even goes so far as to state that in his 

 opinion it will prove to be identical with I. purchasi of Australia, South 

 Africa, New Zealand, California, Mexico, and the Sandwich Islands. 

 He states that the specimens which he has received lack the tapering 

 processes so characteristically shown in Mr. Douglas' figure, which we 

 have reproduced on page 98 of this volume, and that, in any event, he 

 considers these processes as of no specific value. | 



While we are ready to admit that we have seen a tendency towards 

 the formation of such processes in I. purchasi, they have specific value 

 when specialized as in cegyptiacum, as their production must depend upon 

 some peculiar grouping or other modification of the secretory pores. 

 Moreover, the specimens of cegyptiacum entirely lack the black hairs 

 which are so characteristic of the adult female of purchasi, while the 

 eggs are smaller and of a pale yellow rather than of a bright orange 

 color. The newly hatched larvae are so nearly alike, that we are unable 

 to i^oint out distinguishing characters from the greatly shriveled spec- 

 imens received. 



Since the publication of our article we have also been in correspond- 

 ence with Bear- Admiral R. W. Blunfield, E.. N., Deputy Commissioner 

 General of Ports and Light-houses, Alexandria, Egypt. Prof. William- 

 son Wallace, of the Agricultural College at Gizeh, has published a 

 newspaper statement, also forwarded by Deputy Consul-General Grant, 

 in which he records considerable damage to citrus trees at Cairo, and 

 states that he has found that the insects may be washed down by throw- 

 ing a strong stream of water into the tree. 



Adverting again to the statement originally published to the effect 

 that "a breeze sends the cottouy pest down in all directions," and to 

 our conclusion on page 99, that it is evidently the processes that are 



