74 INSECTS NOXIOUS TO AGRICULTUKE. 



39. CTENOCHITON VIRIDIS, Maskell. 



N.Z. Trans., Vol. XL, 1878, p. 211 ; Vol. XVII., 1884, 

 p. 24. 



(Plate IX., Fig. 1.) 



Test of adult female absent or fragmentary; very thin, waxy, 

 white, divided into pentagonal or hexagonal segments, each of 

 which exhibits numerous concentric wavy curves, crossed by 

 straight lines radiating from the centre * the segments are 

 separated by double lines of minute spots, corresponding to the 

 spinneret orifices of the insect. No air-cells. Fringe seldom 

 visible. 



Test of female of second stage very thin, white, waxy, flat, 

 divided into segments with concentric curves and radiating 

 lines as in the adult. Fringe of broad segments. No air-cells. 

 Length, about -j^in. 



Test of male glassy, white, elongated, slightly convex, divided 

 into segments similarly marked to those of the female. Ab- 

 dominal segments separated from the test by a transverse line, 

 or hinge. Length, about Jin. 



Adult female bright-green in colour, thick, elongated or 

 pyriform, the cephalic portion somewhat acuminate ; length 

 sometimes reaching Jin. It produces a conspicuous depression 

 in the leaf, in which the body is partially buried. Antennae of 

 six joints (apparently seven, but the third joint shows the false 

 division or depressed ring), often atrophied. Feet normal, coxse 

 and femora thick. After gestation the insect frequently becomes 

 brown, covered with a mass of white mealy or felted secretion. 



Female of the second stage thin, filmy, translucent ; flat, 

 elongated, with wavy outline ; colour green ; length, about ^\jin. 

 Antennae of six joints. 



Adult male greenish-yellow ; length, about 1*5 in. Antennae 

 of nine joints. Feet normal ; digitules absent. A strong spine 

 at the extremity of the tibia. 



Habitat On Panax arbor ewn, Coprosma lucida, Hedycarya 

 dent at a, Atherosperma Nova-Zalandicz, Rubus austrahs ; Canter- 

 bury, Otago, Wellington, Nelson, Auckland, Hawke's Bay. 



This is probably the largest known species of the Lecanidinee. 

 Its size and bright-green colour in the adult state clearly dis- 



* The radiating lines and concentric curves of these segments are usually 

 somewhat conspicuous, at least on the adult female, and serve to distinguish the 

 test from that of C. elongatus, which otherwise resembles it. 



