380 

 THE WEST INDIAN RUFOUS SCALE. 



(Aspidiotus articulatus, Morgau.) 

 By T. D. A. CocKKiiEix, K'tmjeion, Jamaica. 



In August, 1889 {Unt. Mo. Mag., Vol. xxv, p. 352), Mr. A. C. F. Morgan 

 published a description of Asjndiotus articulatus^ a new species from 

 Demerara, as follows : 



Early in July, 1891, I found the same species at Barbados, and on 

 arriving at Jamaica found it again abundantly on various plants in 

 Kingston. The scale is circular and quite flat, whitish in color, but 

 always appearing reddish or orange in the center, owing to the body of 

 the animal showing through. It is an extremely easy species to identify, 

 because the scale on being pushed or lifted by a knife blade at once 

 comes off, leaving the very flat female Coccid beneath, which is recog- 

 nized by its orange color and its strong segmentation, which latter 

 character is easily seen with an ordinary pocket lens. 



The rigures given (1. c. PI. v, Figs. 3, 5) by Morgan show the charac- 

 ters of the terminal plate, but otherwise are not very characteristic. 

 In Fig. 5 the proportions of the parts are not good, and the general 

 shape, so different from that observed by me, that I at first regarded 

 the Jamaican form as a new species, jillied to but distinct from articula- 

 tus. However, I sent specimens of my species to Mr. Morgan, who 

 identified them as articulatus, and wrote suggesting that his 9 might 

 have been gravid. This could hard!}' be, as I took a 9 full of eggs 

 off a rose bush in Kingston, and it was quite of the usual shape; but 

 Mr. Morgan very kindly sent me one of his Demerara specimens, and 

 on comparing it with mine I found them identical in all essential par 

 ti<'ulars. 



The normal (and, according to my experience, invariable) shape of 

 the thorax is in outline that of a hemisphere, sometimes more or less 

 compressed. The abdomen forms a triangle, of which the base is about 

 one-fifth longer than either side. The terminal segment is large and 

 well marked ofl' from the rest. The eggs are oval, and many may at 

 times be counted within the body of the 9 . I have examined very 

 many specimens of the 9 , and all have been flat, none even rounded 

 and plump, like some of the other species. 



The peculiar characters of this species are so marked that it ought 

 surely to be placed in a new genus or subgenus, but pending a revision 

 of Aspidiotus it may be convenient to regard it as the tyjie of a section, 

 Articulati. 



FOOD-PLANTS. 



A. articulatus abounds on a great variety of i)lants. In Kingston I 

 have found it on Olive, Lignum Vit*, Oleander, Hose, Orange, Ficus, 

 Cocoanut, and other palms, and various plants not identified. It nor- 



