52 ENtOMOLOGlCAL NEWS. [Feb., '05 



A New Lac -Insect. 



By T. D. A. COCKERELL. 

 The lac-insects ( Tachardia) are for the most part members 

 of the tropical fauna, and only a few species occur within the 

 boundaries of the United States. In New Mexico T. cornuta 

 Ckll. has long remained unique, and I did not expect to see a 

 second species from that region. However, one has come to 

 hand, and from a locality in which I have collected many 

 times, without finding it. It must be extremel}' local ; the 

 explanation of this fact is sufficiently evident when on boiling 

 up the material received, I find it severely attacked both by 

 a fungus and a chalcidid. 



Tachardia glomerella n. sp. 



Crowded on the steins of Gutierrexia glomerella Greene the indivi- 

 duals coalescing in large numbers, but not (in the material received) en- 

 tirely surrounding the stems ; color very dark, with translucent shining 

 orange-red rounded bosses, suggestive of guava jelly ; scales smooth and 

 roundec, without (even when young) any distinct projection such as is 

 seen in T. cornuta ; female when boiled and mounted colorless, about 3 

 mm. long ; the crimson pigment produced on boiling very abundant, 

 making the liquid extremely dark ; caudal process yellowish-brown, only 

 moderately chitinized, very broad basally, emitting no hairs from its apex ; 

 dorsal excretory processes cyiindrically slightly broadened to the base, 

 colorless. 



Larva with antennae 6-jointed, joints 3 and 6 long (6 longest), the others 

 short, 4 and 5 with a stout spine subapically, 6 with a similar but larger 

 spine at about the beginning of its last third ; apex of 5 with two ex- 

 tremely long hairs, nearly twice as long as the sixth joint. 



Found on the mesa near lyittle Mountain, Mesilla Valley, 

 New Mexico, Oct. 6, 1904, by Dr. David Griffiths. Commu- 

 nicated by Professor E. O. Wooton. 



Larger and darker than T. cornuta, and without the protu- 

 berance. Much darker and otherwise different from T. fttl- 

 gens Ckll. ; without the stripes and lateral foot-like processes 

 of T. fulvaj'adiata Ckll. The Gutierrezia is very abundant in 



the Mesilla Valley. 



<»» — 



PuLViNAKiA Ficus Hcmpel. — This coccid was recorded from the West 

 Indies by Maxwell-Lefroy, who gave measurements of the antennae and 

 legs. An examination of the data presented shows that the species was 

 not P. ficus at all, but P. cnpanitr Ckll. The true P. ficus is known 

 only from Brazil. — T. D. A. Cockerell. 



