I 



Vol. XXX] EXTO^rOIvOGTCAL NEWS. 93 



orid moth has been reared abundantly from Kermes of more 

 than one species, the writers are led to believe that Bassett's 

 "galls" were nothing more nor less than some species of Ker- 

 mes, and that Packard merely copied Clemens' notes which 

 accompanied the original description of this microlepidopteron. 

 This view is strongly emphasized or even substantiated by the 

 records of Comstock, King, Rritton and Lawson. 



Other Records of Parasitised Kermes. 



The only other known records of the genus Kermes being 

 infested by lepidopterous larvae are those given below. 



Chambers (1878) described Blasfobasis coccivorella, a spe- 

 cies of Tincoidea which was reared abundantly from a large 

 coccid, Kermes sp. from Florida. Comstock (1880a) says that 

 some of the scales were pierced by round holes and entirely 

 eaten out. By dissecting apparently sound ones, he found a 

 few full-grown lepidopterous larvae measuring about eight 

 millimeters long. These were plump, the 4th and 5th abdominal 

 segments being the largest. The general color was milk-white, 

 the head light brown with darker brown m^outh-parts. The 

 prothoracic plate was narrow, light brown, and divided longi- 

 tudinally in the middle. It had six well-developed thoracic legs 

 and five pairs of pro-legs. When the larva began pupating, it 

 first cut an opening through the exterior of the coccid, which 

 up to that time had been entire. Then it spun up a compara- 

 tively compact cocoon on the outside of the coccid, attached to 

 the edges of the circular hole. 



Dyar (1902), however, does not record Chambers' species 

 at all, and the writers can find no other place in literature where 

 B. coccivorella Chambers is mentioned. Is it a synonym of 

 some valid species, or was it entirely overlooked by Dyar in his 

 check-list ? 



Comstock (1880a) described a tineid moth, Dakruma cocci- 

 divora (^Dakruma pallida) , which, was reared from a species 

 of Kermes from Sanford and from Fort George, Florida. He 

 gave the following account of the larval habits of the parasite : 

 "When full-grown the larva leaves the coccid, which it in- 

 fested, and makes a cocoon which is attached to the outside of 



