NOTES ON THi: (U:()(;K'APIIICAL DISTRIBUTiON of scale 



INSECTS. 



Bv T. D. A. CoCKERELL. 



In the ])iepavati()n of a list of localities from wliicli Coccidu' have 

 been recorded it becomes so evident tliat our knowledge is not merely 

 incomplete, but fragmentary, tlmt fiutlier consideration of the matter 

 at the present time might seem useless. 1 do not. however, take this 

 view, but prefer to record the fragments of information so far accumu- 

 lated, hoi)ing that those who read these notes may be in some cases 

 stimulated to assist in tilling the gaps. 



PALEAIJCTIC region. 



Although Europe has been api)arently well searched, new things are 

 turning up every few months, and I really believe that we do not know 

 the Coccida' ot any European country so well as we do those of New 

 Zealand. There are two or three reasons why the European list, as 

 appearing m the books, must be considerably reduced. One is that there 

 is doubtless a good deal of synonymy not yet clearly made out, ownng to 

 the formerly prevalent idea that it was safe to consider anything on a 

 new food plant to be a new species. Another is the number of imi)er- 

 fect descriptions of older authors, which, in the absence of certainty as 

 to wdiat was intended, w-ill have, eventually, to be dropped. The third 

 reason is that very many species described from Europe have been 

 found m hothouses on exotic plants, and certainly do not belong to the 

 palearitic fauna. When Signoret wrote, these hothouse species 

 already numbered 48, and they have been largely added to since by 

 Douglas and Newstead. 



Making as good an estimate as I am able to at present, I tind the 

 truly palearctic Coccid;e to be as follows: 



Forphi/rophora, 5; Guerinia, 1; F((I(Vocoecus, 2: NidnJaria, 1; Anto- 

 nina, 2; Xylococcus, 1; Gos.sy2)((yla, 2; Eriocooeus^ G; Rhisococcus, 1; 

 Bergyothia, 1; Oudahlis, 2-, iJacti/lopius, 11; Ptito, 1; Phenacocc as, 12; 

 Rijjersia, 4; Tetnira,!; Cri/ptocoecu.s, 1; K€rmes,i); Orfhezia, T); Aste- 

 rolecanium, 5; PoUinia, 2; Lecauiodiaspis, 1; SujnoreUa,!; F'dlippia^l; 



Procee(liu"s of the U. S. National :Miiseum, Vol. XVII— No. 1026. 



615 



