OYSTER-SHELL BARK LOUSE. 29 



by what means it was thus suspended. Upon examining one of 

 these pendant scales with a strong lens, I saw a fine hair-like fila- 

 ment, attached by one end to the leaf, and by the other to the in- 

 sect's body, at that part of the breast from which the beak of Ho- 

 mopterous insects appears to proceed. The idea at once occurred 

 to me that this was nothing other than the long-sought-for probos- 

 cis of the Coccidce^ and a little further inspection with the micro- 

 scope proved the truth of the supposition. I immediately went 

 into my garden and obtained some twigs infested by the Apple- 

 tree Bark-louse, anxious to see if I could detect the correspondmg 

 organ in this species. It is astonishing how easy it is to find a 

 thing when you know just where to look for it. I found that the 

 proboscis of the Apple-tree louse exactly resembles that of the 

 pine leaf species, and is just as easily detected. Subsequently, 

 upon looking over some of the back numbers of the Transactions 

 of the American Entomological Society, which I had not before 

 seen, I noticed the article upon the Bark-louse, by Dr. Shiiner, of 

 Mt. Carroll. From this, it appears that he detected this or^an in 

 the course of a series of microscopic observations upon t'nd insect 

 which he made in the summer of 18GT ; so that to him must be 

 given the credit of first discovering the proboscis of the Apple- 

 tree Bark-louse, which for so long a time has eluded our search. 



Fine as this organ i.?, it is found, when examined under the 

 microscope, and under proper conditions of the organ itself, to be 

 not the single hair-like sucker which it appears, but to be com- 

 posed of several still finer pieces or filaments, which, though usu- 

 ally lying together, are capable of separation. The number of 

 these pieces in the proboscis of the Coccidce has been a subject of 

 some diversity of opinion amongst European entomologists. M. 

 Percheron, a French author who investigated these insects many 

 years ago, stated the number to be three. Dr. Shimer also saw 

 the proboscis of the common species separate into three pieces, 

 for a part of its length, and I have seen it several times separate 

 sometimes into apparently two and sometimes three parts. But 

 Mr. Westwood says, that in some species which he examined, he 

 detected four, and M. Signoret, who has very recently submitted 

 the whole family of Coccidie to a most rigid scrutiny, gives the 

 normal number of pieces in the proboscis to be four. It is alto- 

 gether probable therefore that the reason why we have not seen 



