1 62 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Apr., 'l/ 



Mating Habit of the Cottony Cushion Scale (Hem., 



Horn.). 



By G. O. Shinji, Berkeley, California. 



While studying the life history of the cottony cushion scale 

 (Icerya purchasi) for a certain experimental purpose, our at- 

 tention was called to a peculiar process of mating exhibited by 

 this insect. So far as our knowledge goes the mode of mating 

 in the cottony cushion scale has never been described. It is, 

 therefore, thought that the present paper may not be out of 

 place. 



The adult male, soon after the last molting, folds his 

 wings flat on his back and remains inactive for a period of 

 about three days. Then, either early in the morning, or, more 

 generally, on a warm, dusky evening, he crawls on a nearby 

 twig to search for his mate. As soon as he finds a mature and 

 yet virgin female, he crawls on her back, pats her abdomen 

 with the tip of his genital prominence two or three times, and 

 then slowly and gently slips alongside of his mate, but never 

 across her head. Then he proceeds directly toward the upper 

 end of the twig or the branch, as the case may be. At the end 

 of the twig he turns around and comes back to the female 

 again. If at this time the bride he engaged signifies her ac- 

 ceptance by elevating her abdomen from the surface of the 

 twig, a copulation takes place ; if not, he repeats the same 

 process several times. In three instances we have observed 

 the male, after the second approach to the female, which has 

 not yet responded, try successfully to dislodge her abdomen 

 from the twig by the use of his front pair of legs. However 

 stubborn females seemed to be at first, they yielded to his 

 wishes in the long run, and a copulation resulted. 



Altogether, in thirty-two copulations observed so far, the 

 process was practically the same ; he curls his abdomen up and 

 around the posterior end of the female until the penis is in- 

 serted into the genital aperture of the female. This process is 

 made possible by his holding himself on the fringe of the fe- 

 male by the hind legs, and also by the support of the wings, 

 which are placed firmly against the twig. No movement of 



