75 



Papers. ' 



The Secretary read the following paper: 



Note on Tomocera, a Genus of Scale-bug Parasites, with 



Description of a New Species. [Hymen.] 



By R. C. L. Perkins. 



One of our most abundant species of scale-bug parasites is 

 that which commonly infests species of LecaniMm in these 

 Islands, and is known as Tomocera californica. Its very distinct 

 appearance and the frequent occasions on which one notices it 

 sitting or walking on plants infested with Lecanium, must make 

 it familiar to all who pay any attention to the smaller insects. 

 It has existed here for a long time, having been collected by 

 Blackburn some thirty years ago; and these specimens were 

 described subsequently as forming a new genus and species, by 

 Cameron, under the name of Moranila testaceipes, two years 

 after Howard's description, under the name of Tomocera cali- 

 fornica, had appeared. Yet I have no doubt that both here 

 and in California this parasite has been introduced by man, with 

 scale-infested plants. Of my own observation I know the 

 Australian region to be rich in Tomocera and allied forms, and I 

 believe the same to be true of the Oriental Region. 



From China Mr. Koebele ten years ago introduced parasites 

 for Ceroplastes rubens, once a most unsightly pest here. Amongst 

 these was a species of Tomocera, I believe as yet undescribed, 

 possibly on account of its extraordinary resemblance to T. 

 californica. This undescribed species likewise attacks C. 

 ceriferus in middle and north Queensland, but has apparently 

 not yet reached South Queensland, nor New South Wales. I 

 believe it has certainly been imported from China into North 

 Queensland, and will eventually reach New South Wales, even 

 if unassisted by entomologists in distribution. 



Ceroplastes is not noticeably a pest in the parts where we 

 found this Tomocera. I have not at the time of writing suf- 

 ficiently good specimens of the males of T. californica, to enable 

 me to say more than that in this sex, the specific differences are 

 probably as slight as in the females ; and in the case of the latter 

 the extraordinary resemblance to T. californica necessitates 

 only the briefest of descriptions. I therefore diagnose the 

 species as follows: 



