INTRODUCTION, 



The literature on the COCCID^E of Egypt is confined to a series 

 of isolated records, and in view of the economic importance of this 

 family I propose in the present paper to put on record the species 

 which we have in the collections of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 

 all fifty-six species are recorded, and it is hoped that in subsequent 

 papers this list will be greatly augmented ; it is probable that over 

 a hundred described species exist in the country and doubtless some 

 new to science will be collected, especially when time permits of a 

 careful examination of the desert flora. 



Existing records show that a number of species have been described 

 originally from Egyptian material, for the most part by Newstead 

 in the Bulletin of Entomological Research. With one or two exceptions 

 all of the recorded species and many hitherto unrecorded species- 

 are found in the collections of the Ministry and are here recorded ; 

 the remaining will be found sooner or later and included in a subsequent 

 paper. 



It is fully realized that the present paper is very incomplete, 

 but it is thought that our present records, incomplete though they 

 may be, will be of some value until such time as a more complete 

 collection can be worked up. 



Throughout I have followed the nomenclature as given in Fernald's 

 " Catalogue of the COCCID^E." I should have preferred to give a 

 complete description of the characters of each species recorded, but 

 such descriptions are useless without illustrations, and it would be 

 difficult to get the plates required executed in this country. I have 

 therefore confined myself to a brief description of the external 

 characters, pointing out any peculiarities, and I have only referred 

 to the microscopic characters where my preparations show any 

 divergence from type. Under the bibliography of each species I have 

 given one or two references where complete descriptions with figures 

 may be found. Many of these references are to Green's " COCCID^E 

 of Ceylon," Newstead's " Monograph of the British COCCID^E " and 

 to Newstead's excellent descriptions in the "Bulletin of Entomological 

 Research" from which I have occasionally taken the liberty of freely 

 quoting. 



A complete list of the host plants is ;.,iven, and in the case of 

 species which have proved definite pests I have made some remarks 



