Oct., '02] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 255 



period of such insects, as has become the fashion of late even 

 by our best writers, is still less to be commended, and will not 

 tend to make the matter clearer to the beginner. The presence 

 of wing-pads and other metamorphic structures does not alter 

 the more primitive and fundamental characters of this period 

 as being one of growth — a true larval period characteristic of all 

 insects. 



On the Progress in the Description of the Coccidae. 



By Geo. B. King. Lawrence, Mass. 



Prior to 1868 when Dr. Signoret began his great work 

 " Essai sur les Cochenilles " (published in the Annales de la 

 Societe Entomologique de France) practically all the Coccidae 

 described up to that time were studied only superficially, no 

 attention being paid to the anatomy of these insects, and even 

 since his time several authors have only given us the external 

 characters of their species. It is therefore often with great diffi- 

 culty that the species so described can be recognized again when 

 found ; indeed were it not for the types of some of these which 

 have been carefully preserved and from which compari- 

 sons can be made, many now recognized, would have been 

 known by other names, and justly so too, so far as the descrip- 

 tions go. 



To appreciate what I have alluded to, one has only to con- 

 sult Prof. Cockerell's note on his Bibliographical investigation 

 among the earlier works treating of Coccidae. Such investi- 

 gations prove of great value, when published, to a student 

 receiving Coccidae for identification from European countries, 

 which are decidedly mixed and little known at present. 



Recently much interest has been shown in Germany by Dr. 

 L. Reh and in Switzerland by Dr. J. Hofer who are investiga- 

 ting and collecting the scale insects native to their countries, 

 together with those found on plants coming into their ports 

 from other countries. Some of the earlier described species 

 have been found by them, viz., Ptdvinaria vitis L,. 1758, 

 luilecaninni loryli \^. 1758, zvV/ZBouche 1851 ,/>.;v'.v/V^^' Fabr. 1766, 

 and Kermcs qiicrcus L. 1758. In the original descriptions of all 



