132 GYMNASPIS 



Male puparium (fig. 11) ovate, purplish brown, 

 margins paler ; exuviae at the anterior extremity ; 

 shining black or bronzy black ; ventral surface open, 

 but there is a very thin secretion on the leaf. 



Long. *75 mm. 



Perfect male unknown. All the scales I obtained 

 were unfortunately untenanted. 



Larva comparatively large (fig. 12), short, ovate; 

 pale mauve; eyes black. Antennae (fig. 13) of five 

 joints ; one, two, and three subequal, four a little 

 longer than three ; six very long and crenulated, form- 

 ing half of the antennae ; there is a rather long hair on 

 the second, two on the third, and one on the fourth 

 joints ; and the apical joint has a median and two 

 apical hairs. The larvae under observation were slug- 

 gish creatures, and when walking carried the an- 

 tennae and legs beneath the body. 



Habitat (under glass). On JEclnma a quit eg a, at the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Discovered in 1898. 



Superficially this species bears a striking resem- 

 blance to Aspidiotus personatus, Comst., but it is a trifle 

 larger, and decidedly more glossy. At first I actually 

 mistook it for the latter, and did not discover my 

 error until examining it under the microscope. On a 

 subsequent visit to Kew I found the species had con- 

 siderably increased, and Mr. Nicholson informs me 

 that it now occurs on other allied species of the Bro- 

 meliacex. It is evidently of pernicious habits, and, 

 regardless of numerous " cleanings," still exists in 

 large numbers. 



Distribution . Prof. Adolph Hempel * has recently 

 recorded this species from Rio de Janeiro on culti- 

 vated plants ("nas folhas duma planta apparentemente 

 cultivada "). It may therefore be indigenous to that 

 or some other country with a similar climate. 



* As Coccidas Brazileiras, 'Rivista do Museu Paulista,' vol. iv 

 (1900), p. 508. 



