THE LARVA. 7 



pump up the juices of the plant. The larvas of the 

 genera Dactylopius, Riper sia, Pseudococcus, and Orthe- 

 zia are active throughout life. 



The larvae are ovate or slightly ellipsoidal, extremely 

 thin and flat, and the segmentation is usually traceable. 

 The eyes are rather large, and placed on or near the 

 margin behind the antennae. The legs are compara- 

 tively short, and placed well within the lateral margin 

 of the body. The antennae are usually formed of six 

 joints, and possess a varied number of hairs, which in 

 certain genera are sometimes very long. The mouth 

 organs are generally placed a little anterior to the 

 front pair of legs, the rostral filaments, or sucking- 

 apparatus, being often so long as to reach almost to 

 the abdominal extremity. A more detailed account is 

 given of the larvae under the chapters dealing with 

 the various sub-families (Diaspinae, etc.). 



When colonies of the larvae of Mytilaspis pomorum 

 and Lecanium persicae become more or less over- 

 crowded, they will ascend to the leaves, and there 

 settle down as upon the branches. This is particularly 

 noticeable in the latter species, which frequently over- 

 flows to such an enormous extent that thousands ov 

 them fall away with the leaves in autumn and perish. 

 This is fortunate for the horticulturist, as it materially 

 lessens their numbers. It should be added, however, 

 that I have not found M. pomorum on the leaves or 

 fruit except in extreme cases of overcrowding ; but 

 with L. persicge this commonly occurs in large colonies, 

 and while there is yet space for them upon the 

 branches of the tree. This remarkable habit possibly 

 points to an earlier habitat on a plant possessing per- 

 petual foliage. 



SECOND STAGE. 



This in the female is the intermediate stage between 

 the larva and the adult, and in the male the stage 

 between the larva and the pupa. 



