170 



that ill general the time required for developmeut is from six to eight 

 weeks. 



The young grow very slowly for the first two or three weeks and the 

 growth is very uneven. Should one look at them for the first time when 

 three or four M'eeks old he would declare they could not all belong to the 

 same brood, as there is such a great difference in their size. The dif- 

 ference is maintained from this on, so that it is impossible to tell where 

 one generation begins and the other ends. There will be all sizes, from 

 the ones just hatching to the female forming a woolly mass. About 

 half of the brood are regular enough, however, so that one can, with a 

 little care, trace the generation through its development. 



When the mealy bugs become about a third grown, i)erhaps one out 

 of every eight or ten will be seen to travel off a little a])art trom the rest 

 and begin to construct a light fluffy cocoon around itself. It is the 

 young male preparing for his transformation to the winged state. The 

 materia] of which the cocoon is constructed is similar to that used by 

 the female in covering her eggs, except that the thread is finer and more 

 downy. The cocoon is oblong in shape, being from 1 to 2'"'" in length 

 and lialf as thick. The construction is alike throughout, with no hard 

 portion except the cast-off skin which is left behind. The transforma- 

 tion is very rapid, taking, as nearly as I can ascertain, only three or four 

 days, or a week at most, when the 2- winged male comes forth with quite 

 a different appearance from what it possessed before. The males are 

 very delicate and slender, measuring less than a millimeter in length 

 and with an expanss of wings from 2 to 3 '""\ The flight is sIom^ and 

 steady, and although they are so very minute, when one has become 

 acquainted with their appearance on the wing, he will readily recognize 

 them and can easily catch them by a quick thrust of the open hand. 

 The body is an olive brown and is more or less flecked with the mealy 

 covering. At the extremity of the abdomen are the two white anal 

 filaments nearly as long as the body itself. The wings are milky white, 

 extremely fragile, and with only the two customary veins. There are 

 now 10 segments to the antennie instead of 7. The mouth parts are 

 either wanting or are very rudimentary. Perhaps the most interesting 

 change is in the placing of the eyes. On the top is a pair of large dark 

 red eyes with a lighter ring of red around them. On the under side of 

 the head, separated nearly as far as they can be from the ones above, is 

 another similar pair. On the sides of the head are the two dark eyes, 

 the same as seen in the immature stage. 



Mating with the half-grown females occurs soon after the males issue. 

 Some one has said that the anal filaments are used for mating, but 

 observation in several cases has not shown such to be the case, the 

 filaments merely extending backward out of the way. 



Dacti/Iopius loiKjiJilis differs structurally in quite a number of minor 

 details from desfrxctor. Perhaps the most evident character is in the 

 long posterior filaments of the female, which gives the species its name. 



