SCALE-INSECTS. 45 



also some scaly but smooth hairs. There are also a few spines. 

 Four groups of spinnerets, which are surrounded (according to 

 Mr. Comstock, Entom. Keport, U.S. Dep. of Agric., 1880, 

 Plate XV., Fig. 1) by a fine line, as if enclosed in a sac. Many 

 single spinnerets. 



In the larva the abdomen ends in four lobes, of which the 

 two median are somewhat prominent. 



Adult male yellow or brownish ; antennae of ten joints, 

 each with several hairs ; feet having the femora somewhat thick, 

 the tibiae and tarsi flat and slender, the former a little expanded 

 at the extremity. 



Habitat On Coprosma lucida and Corynocarpus Icsvigata 

 (Karaka), Wellington. 



A species introduced from Europe, where its favourite habitat 

 is Nerium oleander ; but it is found on many other plants, and is, 

 according to Dr. Signoret, " the commonest of all the species of 

 this genus." It has not yet spread widely in New Zealand. 



9. ASPIDIOTUS SOPHOR^:, Maskell. 



N.Z. Trans., Vol. XVI., 1883, p. 121. 



Female puparium nearly circular, flat, bluish-grey ; diameter, 

 about ^4 in. 



Male puparium oval ; length, about ^in. 



Adult female of the usual peg-top shape, greenish-yellow in 

 colour ; abdomen ending in two conspicuous median lobes, with 

 a number of scaly serrated hairs, as in A. nerii. Five groups of 

 spinnerets : uppermost group with four orifices ; the remainder, 

 seven or eight. Some specimens show only four groups. 



Adult male unknown. 



Habitat On Sophora tetraptera (Kowhai), Port Hills, Can- 

 terbury. 



Only a few species of Aspidiotus are reported with five 

 groups of spinnerets. The present insect differs from all of 

 them in the scaly serrated hairs of the abdomen; none of the 

 others has more than a few spines. 



Genus: DIASPIS, Costa. 



Female puparium more or less, but never quite, circular; 

 sometimes flat, but more usually convex; pellicles more or less 

 marginal. 



