396 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



fissures of oolitic limestone. On plate 42 are shown cysts, enlarged 6 

 diameters; and on plate 43 are shown necklaces and loose ground 

 pearls in the collection of the Bureau of Entomology, collected by the 

 late Prof. C. V. Riley and Mr. H. G. Hubbard in the West Indies. 1 

 This plate is reproduced from a photograph kindly furnished the 

 writer by Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology. 



The family Coccidae, to which these interesting ground pearls 

 belong, includes some very pernicious as well as some very valuable 

 species. The former, known as scale insects, do great injury to fruit 

 trees and other plants. Among the latter are several which are the 

 sources of valuable dyes and lacs : the Mexican cochineal, which has 

 become domesticated and is reared on certain species of Cacti; the 

 classic kermes of the Old World, from which " crimson " (carmesin) 

 takes its name and which was used for dyeing the curtains of the 

 Jewish tabernacle; the "scarlet grains" of Poland, gathered from 

 the roots of Scleranthus perennis; another species, infesting the roots 

 of Scmguisorba sanguisorba, used by the Moors as a source of a 

 beautiful rose color with which they dye fabrics of wool and silk; 

 the Asiatic lac insects, which produce commercial lac, from which 

 shell-lac, sealing wax, and lac dyes and certain lake pigments are 

 derived. It is interesting to note that among the principal trees 

 infested by these lac insects are certain species of Ficus; and that 

 the Ficus aurea, the strangling fig of Paradise Key, is also infested 

 by a Coccus, which Mr. Harold Morrison of the Federal Horticul- 

 tural Board has identified as Coccus elongatus. An attempt might 

 be made to introduce lac insects from India into southern Florida, 

 to see if they would thrive on the native species of Ficus. 



BUGS. 



Among the Hemiptera of Paradise Key determined for the writer 

 by Mr. E. H. Gibson of the Bureau of Entomology are Acrosternum 

 hilaris (pi.. 44, fig. 3), a smooth, green insect allied to our squash 

 bugs; Leptoglossus phyllopus (pi. 44, fig. 7), sometimes called the 

 "leaf foot"; and Metapodius femoratus (pi. 44, fig. 8), the "thick 

 thigh," which punctures fruits and sucks their juices. Less conspicu- 

 ous are the brown bug, EuscMstus ictericus, and Edessa bifida, the 

 latter marked on the back by a whitish U-shaped figure. To this same 

 class of insects belong the various tree hoppers, some of which are of 

 odd shapes, simulating thorns and other natural objects. 



ROACHES AND GRASSHOPPERS. 



Among the Orthoptera of Paradise Key, determined for the writer 

 by Mr. A. N. Caudell, United States National Museum, are Eurycotis 



1 See Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 3 : 148. 1894. 



