180 PSEUDOCOCCUS ACERIS. 



out Europe, but few records are at present known. 

 The P. aceris of North America is probably a different 

 species and will need a new name. 



Habits. The females make their ovisacs chiefly on 

 the undersides of the thicker branches or in the bifur- 

 cations of the slender ones, rarely on the main trunk 

 of the tree or the leaves. This is done from the 

 beginning to the end of May, but only three or four 

 days are occupied in the construction of the ovisac. 

 The eggs are laid during the formation of the sac, and 

 the larvse hatch towards the end of June. At the end 

 of September the males complete their active larval 

 state and then descend to the main trunk of the tree, 

 where, chiefly on the south side, they make their felted 

 puparia and pass the winter. The immature females, 

 however, hibernate in the small crevices and the bifur- 

 cations of the smaller branches of the tree, where they 

 remain throughout the winter, without any protection 

 but their " mealy " coat, until the first warm days in 

 March, when they descend to the main trunk of the 

 tree to await the appearance of the males. After 

 copulation the females return to the branches, often 

 quite high up, and about five or six weeks afterwards 



% their eof^s and die. The earliest of the males 

 O O 



appear towards the end of March, but the majority 

 appear in April, and I have known them to continue 

 hatching until the end of the first week in May. I 

 have never seen the males take flight voluntarily, but 

 have induced them to do so by agitating them with a 

 pin. The males under observation were most active 

 about 9 a.m. on bright sunny days, but at noon, when 

 the heat was greater, they seemed less active. When 

 walking the wings are slightly opened, but not suffi- 

 ciently to expose the abdomen, and the caudal fila- 

 ments are usually slightly raised from the bark. The 

 males become almost torpid during cold, wet weather, 

 and hide away in small crevices of the bark. Many 

 fall a prey to a small species of spider, which weaves 

 untidy webs across the hollows of the bark ; these are 



