COCCID^. 211 



very active, and measure approximately about the T tju of an inch in 

 length. They possess six legs (the tarsus being single-jointed, and 

 terminated by a claw and knobbed hairs), comparatively long antennae 

 of five or six joints, two eyes, and two very long transparent hairs at 

 the posterior end of the body. Under imperfect magnification the seg- 

 mentation of the abdomen cannot be clearly traced ; hence I at first 

 hastily, but erroneously, concluded that " the posterior legs spring 

 from the abdominal part, which is a unique feature in insect 

 anatomy." 1 In the course of two or three days they assume a 

 quiescent state, and inserting their beaks (proboscis) into the bark of 

 the tree, suck up its juices. As soon as the larvae assume this habit 

 they enlarge considerably, and the legs and the antennae disappear 

 beneath the body. After the larva has grown for a short time it casts 

 its skin, and it is after the first larval moult that the sexes are deter- 

 mined. The female scale develops into the form shown in fig. 205 (3), 

 and the male as shown in fig. 205 (7). 



Now let us follow the development a little more fully, and first 

 with regard to the female. After the first larval moult, which is rep- 

 resented by fig. 205 (3 a), the creature develops and again moults, the 

 second larval moult being shown by b in the same figure. Up to this 

 stage the creature protects itself by means of cast-off skins, but the 

 female now commences to further protect herself by means of a cover- 

 ing or " scale," which is spun by minute organs known as " spinnerets," 

 and represented in fig. 205 (9). After the second larval moult the 

 metamorphosis of the female insect is complete. The full develop- 

 ment is shown by fig. 205 (6), from which it will be seen she is simply 

 an inert slug-like creature made up solely of body and mouth. 



The rostrum or mouth serves the double function ,of feeding-organ 

 and anchor, but in the latter capacity it is further assisted by the 

 long hairs, or "setas" as they are termed. And sometimes when the 

 females are loosened from their host-plant by birds, they may be seen 

 dangling in the air attached by the " setae " alone. 



Prior to the deposition of eggs, which takes place in September, 

 the body entirely fills the ovisac, but as the eggs are deposited the 

 body gradually shrivels until it ultimately occupies but a very small 

 portion at the upper or anterior end of the scale. The female dies 

 shortly after the eggs are deposited, and during the winter months the 

 dead female and the eggs may be found under each scale. 



1 British Naturalist, Feb. 1894. 



