234 FOREST ENTOMOLOGY. 



takes about three days. The eggs are laid during the construction 

 of the cocoon, and the larva? hatch out, as previously mentioned, 

 about the middle or end of June. 



I found larvae of this species very plentifully in thorn hedges at 

 Prestbury, Gloucestershire, Sept. 10, 1906. In general appearance 

 they very much resembled the " mealy bug " of greenhouses. They 

 were yellowish, with a white dusty covering over the body. The 

 parent scales with their ovisacs were situated on the twigs, but the 

 young larvae in question were congregated in a streak along the mid- 

 rib of the leaf, and generally on the upper side. 



The female can be easily detached from the ovisac without the aid 

 of a lens. The body is simply an ovate sac of a yellowish colour. 

 If the body be boiled in potash we get rather an interesting object. 

 The antennae are composed of nine joints (fig. 218), of which the 

 second is usually the longest, but the antennae are often variable. 

 The legs and the outline of the rostrum can also be clearly traced. 

 Fig. 219 represents a camera-lucida sketch. 



Fis:. 220 is a caniera-lucida sketch of the rostrum. 



"O" 



Genus Cryptococcus. 



"Adult females stationary, living within a felted ovisac. Antennae 

 rudimentary. Posterior pair of legs rudimentary ; anterior and inter- 

 mediate pair absent. Anal legs normal. Larva with anal orifice, as 

 in the adult female. Antennae of five joints." l 



Cryptococcus fagi (Barensprung). 



This insect is very common in many parts of the country, and is, in 

 fact, one of the most dreaded pests of the arboriculturist. At the 

 same time, it may be noted that it often confines itself to compara- 

 tively small areas, or to isolated park trees. In general appearance 

 the trunks and larger branches of beech-trees infested with this pest 

 present the appearance of a shower of snow having frozen. This pest 

 has been graphically termed the " felt scale " by Miss Ormerod. 

 Fig. 221 is a representation of this scale on beech. 



"Where the pest is but sparsely distributed on the stem little 

 damage accrues ; but it is sometimes found about a quarter to half an 



1 Newstead, vol. ii. p. 214. 



