

NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE COCCID^E I BIRDS. 39 



Asterodiaspis guercicbla (PL D, fig. 2) is a curious 

 little insect, making for itself those characteristic 

 circular depressions in the young shoots of the oak. 

 It is a common species, widely distributed, and in some 

 localities occurs on every oak tree. In summer, when it 

 is young, the delicate green colour of its test beautifully 

 harmonises with the young green shoots, and it is hard 

 to find. But in winter it may be more easily discovered 

 as a minute shining speck in a shallow depression. 

 From the post-mortem examinations we see it enters 

 into the winter dietary of the long-tailed and blue 

 tits, and I believe that other members of the Paridse 

 also feed upon this Coccid in the winter months, as it is 

 often possible to find quite 90 per cent, of the depres- 

 sions made by these insects untenanted. The searching 

 eyes of the tits seem to find them out everywhere, 

 and only a small percentage of them escape from their 

 ceaseless search. 



Lrcanium, sp.? The specimens found in the stomach 

 of the jackdaw were of thefuscum type, and were fully 

 grown adults at the period of gestation; and, judg- 

 ing from the locality from which the birds came, it is 

 highly probable they had been taken from the adjacent 

 branches of the tree in which the birds had nested. I 

 am confident also that the house sparrow (Pass?** 

 domesticus) will sometimes take these insects. 



The first instance which came under my observation 

 was with a large colony of Lecanium (jenevense, ? 

 (PL E, fig. 1), which infested a hawthorn hedge, and of 

 Avhich I had daily been watching the development. 

 One day in May, when the insects were almost mature, 

 I found, by the white scars which were left behind 

 on the bark, that numbers of them had been removed 

 from the branches ; and on carefully watching the 

 colony I found it was the work of a flock of 

 sparrows. Whether they actually ate the Coccids, 

 or whether they merely dislodged them, it is im- 

 possible to say, as I was unable to procure the birds 

 for post-mortem examination, and the thick foliage pre- 



