49 



Green found doing good service in reducing the numbers of this 

 scale insect. He says of it, " I have frequently found the remains 

 of a large colony of this bug in which every scale had been opened 

 and the contents devoured by this beetle, which is equally voracious 

 in both the larval and adult stages." 



An extended and critical study of examples of lata Ckll. and bra- 

 siliensis Sign, convinces me that they are synonyms of aspidistrae 

 Sign. The specimens of lata Ckll. which I have had for examina- 

 tion are cotypes, of which a part were sent me by Prof. Cockerell, 

 and a part were from the collections of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. In his original description of this species Cockerell lays 

 particular stress on the shape of the female scale which is very broad 

 for its length, and this character seemed to him sufficient to separate 

 the specimens from other known species. My examination of the 

 specimens convinced me that they were immature and that the scales 

 had been only partly formed. I was led to this conclusion by the 

 fact that no eggs or egg shells were found under the scales or within 

 the bodies of the females. No appreciable structural differences 

 could be found on the insects themselves by which to separate them 

 from aspidistrae. A female scale of lata Ckll. is shown on Plate i, 

 Fig. 2. Various authors have suggested that brasiliensis* should be 

 placed as a synonym of aspidistrae, there being no structural differ- 

 ences of sufficient value to separate them. Having at my disposal a 

 very long series of both aspidistrae and brasiliensis and having 

 before me all that has been written on the affinities of the species I 

 endeavored to trace out the distinctions by which Signoret separated 

 the two species at the outset. This resulted in a total failure and 

 led me to unite the two species under the name of aspidistrae, which 

 by priority of position should be retained in preference to brasiliensis 

 as Signoret's description of aspidistrae precedes that of brasiliensis 

 in the same paper. 



HEMICHIONASPIS MUSSAENDAE. 



Chionaspis aspidistrae Sign. var. mussaendae Green, Ind. Mus. Notes, 

 Vol. IV., p. i (1896). 



*According to Mr. Nevvstead no cotypes of brasiliensis are preserved at the Hof-Museum 

 at Vienna. 



