OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 95 



I shall, in future, always refer to our apple-tree species by the scien- 

 tific name of Mutilas'pis -poinicoriicls. On general principles, I dis- 

 like to change long-established names, but by doing so in this instance 

 we not only brush away the cobwebs of uncertainty which have 

 gathered around the nomenclature of the insect, but we also obtain 

 more appropriate terms. All former descriptions were in so far im- 

 perfect and provisional that they lacked the male characters, and in 

 thus connecting the name pomicortiois with this more complete 

 description, I hope that our insect's title is secured. I have not 

 thought best to change the popular name by which it is known, for 

 though the term "Mussel-shell " would be more appropriate, the scale 

 not unfrequently assumes an oyster-shell form. 



Mytilaspis roMicoRTicis, N. Sp. — Eggs — From 30 to 100 under eacli scale ; length 

 scarcely 0.01 inch, irregularlj'' ovoid, nearly thrice as long as wide, snow-white, ex- 

 cept just prior to hatching, when tliej' become yellowisli. Larva — Length of body 0.01 

 inch, ovoid, tlirice as long as wide, pale yellow, with a darker yellow spot near each 

 end; a few short hairs seen around border ; two fine anal seta3 about half as long as 

 body springing from two lobes between which two spinous hairs are alwaj^s seen ; an- 

 tennae quite variable, the joints irregular and not easily resolved, sometimes appearing 

 only 6-jointed, but more generally 7-jointed, with a few hairs, two or tliree at tip the 

 longest and most persistent; legs with a one-jointed tarsus, a feeble claw, and, among 

 other hairs, four more or less distinctly knobbed ones near tip, the two uppermost 

 longest. 



(^ — Length of body, 0.022 inch ; color, translucent carneous-gray ; a dorsal trans- 

 verse band on each abdominal joint, and portions of the mesothorax and metatliorax 

 darker, or purple-gray; the members somewhat lighter. Head, sub-triangular; ros- 

 trum rudimentary ; ocular tubercles, one each side of it, plainly visible, the eyes on the 

 upper surface prominent, dark, and with few fiicets ; antenna? as long as body, 10- 

 jointed, jts. 1 and 2 bulbous and sometimes indistinctly separated; 3 — 9 about four 

 times as long as wide, slightly constricted ; 10 half as long and fusiform ; all but basal 

 two with a whorl of about eight hairs, slightly clavate and as long as width of joint. 

 Thorax very large, oval; prothoracic portion narrowing in front, composed of two 

 transverse folds, the anterior one having a transverse row of four dusky dots ; the mes- 

 othoracic portion large and elevated, showing three lateral swellings; a well-defined 

 medio-dorsal plate, rounded in front, shallowly notched behind, with a medio-longitu- 

 din.al suture, and a transverse one dividing it in two, the anterior half pale, the poste- 

 rior darker; the metathoracic portion showing a sub-triangular scutel, and separated 

 from mesothorax bj^ the transverse band {apodema of Targioni). Wings about as long 

 as body, arising from base of mesothorax, spatulate, closing flat on back in repose, 

 and appearing whitish, finely and uniformly covered with short, stiff hairs ; supported 

 by a bifurcate vein, the bifurcation arising from basal fourth, and each fork running 

 near and almost parallel with the wing-margins ; balancers dark, with the hook quite 

 long. Legs with the middle pair longest, and — from large size of coxaj — further from 

 front than from hind pair ; the coxre and femora large and swollen, the latter with a 

 more or less distinct lobe near the base below; the tarsi one-jointed, with a constric- 

 tion occasionally indicated, and terminating in a single flexible claw, surrounded by 

 four clubbed hairs; the tibi;e and tarsi are quite bristlj^ but on the femora there are 

 usually but two bristles, one about the middle above, and one on the basal lobe below; 

 the coxfc also have one above. Abdomen, seen from above, nearlj^ as long as thorax; 

 appearing shorter from below; 8 joints onlj- discerned; the last joint abruptly nar- 

 rowed into a large tubercle bearing four bristles on the under side, and sending forth 

 the genital armor in the form of an awl-shaped style as long as the abdomen. 



