94 WHITE-PINE LEAF LOUSE. 



mi8 and family, and to this extent, the history of one is the history 

 of all. 



In treating of the two species of CocoidcB \nc\nded in this report, 

 the Mytilaspis conchiformis^ and {he M. pinifolice, I have intended 

 to dwell more fully upon tho^e points in their common structure 

 and history in the one article, which I have touched upon the more 

 lightly in the other, so that the two articles combined, and both 

 taken in connection with the results of the labors of my predeces- 

 sors in the same field of investigation, might present a comprehen- 

 sive view of the subject, not perfect indeed, but somewhat approx- 

 imating to completeness. 



I have mentioned, a few pages back, the wonderful instincts of 

 the Coccus of the Pine, which prompts the female insects to im- 

 prove the short period of their active existence, to migrate out- 

 wards upon the terminal foliage, where they and the generation 

 succeeding them will find themselves in the midst of the greenest 

 and freshest forage, whilst the males which are to acquire wings, 

 and the consequent power of locomotion, fix themselves indiffer- 

 ently upon the first vacant space that ofi'ers ; thus indicating a 

 kind of prophetic vision utterly beyond any reach of intelligence 

 which we can reasonably attribute to beings so low in the scale of 

 creation. The student of entomology is continually meeting with 

 instances of this kind, which arrest his attention and excite his 

 wonder, and which baffle his utmost ingenuity to explain. 



Permit me, by way of conclusion, to refer briefly to a few of 

 these instances, not merely as marvellous stories, intended to ex- 

 cite the curiosity of children, but as remarkable facts in nature, 

 fraught, it may be, with a profound significance. 



It is the common instinct of insects which are wood-borers in 

 their larva state, but which have no snch power in their subse- 

 quent stages, to gnaw their way to the surface of the tree before 

 they stop feeding, so that they can emerge without obstruction 

 after they shall have completed their transformations. 



The Plum-gouger {Anthronomus prunicida\ whose history 

 was so carefully traced by my predecessor, Mr, Walsh, and which 

 in its larval period occupies not the flesh but the kernel of the 

 plum, when it has completed its growth and is ready to trans- 

 form in the kernel, takes the precaution to gnaw a round hole in 

 the shell, through which it may subsequently emerge. If it did 



