AMERICAN IIOMOPTERA. 383 



NOTES ON CHEEMES* PINICOETICIS. 

 ("White-Fine Louse.") 



BY HENRY SIIIMER, M. D. 



For several years past, especially since 1S64-, I have made careful 

 observations and study of the IIou:opterous insects infesting the White 

 Pine (^Piiius sfrohux^ L.) and now submit the following results for the 

 consideration of those who may bo studying the same subject. 



At the early opening of Spring, there appears on the trunk and 

 branches of the White Pine an insect covered with a wooly-down. This 

 white substance alone attracts the attention, for the insect producing it 

 in such great abundance is quite a minute creature and is not readil}' 

 seen without the aid of a lens. This downy substance appears most 

 abundantly on young pines, near the ground, early in the spring, just 

 as the frost leaves the earth, indicating that the insect passes the winter 

 on the ground in the egg-state, and that it is developed by the small 

 amount of heat of early spring. It is now seen more especially on the 

 trunk; some also appear in the axils of the branches. They multiply 

 rapidly and at length, as the summer appears, they become numerous 

 on the young shoots, feasting upon the resinous matter ; they may be 

 found more or les3 aburid.int during the season. 



Within the downy substance this coccus-like insect is found. The 

 pregnant female is of a reddish-brown color, the head not distinct from 

 the body, the back round, much humped, the belly flat, the proboscis 

 carried between the forelegs; the young are pale yellow, quite small, 

 scarcely visible to the naked eye. 



* For the present the synonymy of this species may be given thus: 



Chermes ? pinicorticis. 



Coccus pinicorticis, Fitch, Trans. N. Y. Reports, ii, g 254 ; N. Y. Agric. Soc. 1859, 

 871. 



Chermcs pinifolicc, Fitch, N. Y. Reports, ii, g 2G7, 1858. 



As this insect belongs to my family Dacti/lo^pharidix, it is quite probable that, 

 after a more careful study of its relationship with Chermes in Aphidse, it will be 

 found to be distinct from that genus. Should such prove to be the case, the fol- 

 fowing genus is proposed. 



PINEUS. 



Front wing with three simple oblique veins; hind wing with subcostal or 

 rib-vein forked; wings roofed in rejiose. Antennaj 4 — 6-jointed. Tarsi one- 

 jointed, claws two, with two digituli. Ilonej'-tubes none. The female secretes 

 a mass of wooly down in which she laj's her eggs. 



