PARLATORIA. 139 



This species has the singular habit of living in little 

 colonies or family parties, which generally consist of 

 one or two females and several males. The insects 

 were very abundant upon the leaves submitted to me. 

 It may readily be distinguished from all other known 

 species by the thick, white, felted covering of the 

 puparia, and the absence of circumgenital glands in the 

 female. 



Genus PARLATORTA (Targioni-Tozzetti). 



The members of this genus, which are few in 

 number, bear a somewhat superficial resemblance to 

 Fiorinia owing to the large size of the second exuviae 

 a character which is most marked in P. zizi/phi. The 

 adult female, however, is not enclosed within the second 

 exuviae, which only forms part of the dorsal covering 

 or puparium as in Aspidiotns, etc., but to a much 

 greater extent. The ventral scale in all the species 

 hereafter described is thin, but can be removed from 

 the plant tissues. In P. zizyphi it extends across the 

 entire width of the puparium, but in P. proteus, P. 

 pergandii, and the var. crotonis, the ventral scale only 

 covers the, comparatively narrow, trough-shaped 

 cavity, to the sides of which it is attached. The 

 most salient generic character, however, is found in the 

 structure of the pygidium of the adult female, which 

 appears deeply crenulated owing to the many large 

 marginal pores. The form and character of the lobes 

 and plates in the various species differ orrly in the 

 minutest details, which renders the species by no 

 means easy to determine from mere descriptions (see 

 PL XXXIII, figs. 13). Even in P. zizi/plii, with its 

 abnormally large second exuviae, the characters of the 

 pygidium of the female are obscure. 



Mr. Maskell says this genus appears to exist (in 

 the open air) only in tropical or warm countries. 



As regards the male I can say very little, as it has 



