46 INSECTS NOXIOUS TO AGRICULTURE. 



Male puparium elongated, the pellicle at one end ; a longi- 

 tudinal carina, or keel, appears in the middle. 



Groups of spinnerets, five. 



Mr. Comstock (Entom. Rep., Cornell Univ., 1883, p. 85) 

 remarks that, when the pellicles of the female of this genus are 

 marginal, it might be difficult to distinguish it from Chionaspis, as 

 the male puparia are alike in both. As regards the species ob- 

 served hitherto in New Zealand this difficulty has not occurred. 



10. DIASPIS BOISDUVALII, Sigiioret ; Ann. de la Soc. Entom. 



de France, 1868, p. 433. 



N.Z. Trans., Vol. XI., 1878, p. 200; Vol. XVII., 1884, 

 p. 23. 



(Plate IV., Fig. 5.) 



Female puparium oval, nearly circular, flattish; colour, 

 yellowish-grey; diameter, about -f^in. 



Male puparium elongated, white, with a strong median keel, 

 and with the edges raised so as to appear like two other keels ; 

 length, about ^m. The male puparia frequently occur massed 

 in great numbers, and covered with white hairs and fluff. 



Adult female rather elongated, oval, or somewhat pear- 

 shaped ; the body corrugated, the cephalic portion smooth. At 

 each side, on a level with the rostrum, or a little above it, is a 

 protruding lobe, wliicli is characteristic. Colour, light-yellow. 

 Abdomen ending in two lobes, not prominent, and with a 

 depression between them ; beyond the lobes are many serrations, 

 with small lobelike projections and spiny hairs. Five groups of 

 spinnerets : uppermost group with five to eight orifices^ ; the two 

 upper side groups with twenty to twenty-five ; lower side groups, 

 fifteen to twenty. A few scattered single spinnerets. 



Adult male very small, about 4\yin. in length ; colour, 

 reddish-yellow ; antennae of ten joints, all with hairs except the 

 two first ; femora and tibiae slender, tarsi thick at the base, and 

 tapering to the claw; digitules, fine hairs. The first and second 

 pair of legs appear somewhat widely separated, owing to the 

 length of the coxae. 



Habitat On several hothouse plants, Christchurch and Wel- 

 lington ; and on wattle in gardens, Wellington. 



A European insect. The curious projections at the side, 



*' Mr. Comstock (Entom. Eep., Cornell Univ., 1883, p. 87) gives eight to 

 fifteen orifices for the uppermost group. 



