CHERMES HIMALAYENSIS ON THE SPRUCE AND SILVEE FIE. Ill 



monsoon period and possibly the autumn and winter are passed in this position. I am 

 of opinion that it is possible that these insects form a portion of the stem-mothers or 

 ^olonici on the Silver Fir. 



III. Cheemes himalayessis on the Silver Eir. 



Nature of Attack. 



The Chermes feeds upon the sap of the new needles of the year, spending its life 

 invariably on the under surface. 



The second or third generations of the apterous insects descend down the needles 

 towards their bases, causing the needles to contort and screw up, the upper portion of the 

 shoot thus developing into a curious corkscrew, having the appearance of a large 

 terminal " hud " within which the Aphids feed, the whole mass being very sticky from 

 the exudations of the Aphid (cf. PI. 23. fig. 1). 



Distribution. 

 The same as already given under the Spruce. 



Description. 



Young (Colonici) Larva. — Madder-brown to hlack in colour, covered with white 

 cottony bristles with a lateral fringe of white setae. Proboscis very long, at least more 

 than three times as long as insect, blackish in colour. PI. 23. figs. 2, 3 show these 

 Colonici larva?. 



Stem-Mother (Colonici). — Dead females are dark brown-madder to almost black in 

 colour with a long blackish proboscis. 



Fgg-Masses. — The spring egg-masses are very similar to those of the Spruce already 

 described, but they differ in one marked peculiarity. They are invariably covered by a 

 white cottony filamentous substance or " wool," which entirely hides and protects them. 

 PI. 22. fig. 5 shows an egg- mass with the wool drawn aside to show the eggs. 

 This egg-mass contains the eggs of the second generation, the Sexupar.^: and 

 Exsules. 



Eggs. — Similar to those found upon the Spruce. 



Elliptical, yellow, darkening to madder-brown, shining, having the shape of a hen's 

 egg. PL 22. figs. 3, 4, 5 show masses of these eggs, those of the second generation 

 of the year. 



Young larva (Sexuparjs and Exsules). — Brown-madder in colour, with two large 

 basal joints to the antenna, followed by another joint and a bristle. Proboscis short. 



Within a few days of hatching out, the young larva commences to secrete from 

 the dorsal area the white woolly substance which from now onwards begins to gradually 

 clothe them. 



PI. 22. fig. S shows a young newly hatched larva of the second generation from an 

 egg laid two days before by an apterous female of the first generation of the year. 



Full-grown Apterous Female (Exsules). — Elliptical ovate or truncate ovate (figs. 2, 3), 



