552 PllOCEEDlisGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



and stems— especially the apical ones. In this case I did not find ants' 

 attending upon the nymphs to lick the honey-dew as has been seen in 

 the case of Phenacoccus hirsutus on cotton. The male nymphs prior 

 to pupation generally remain under a thin whitish floss near the midribs 

 of leaves at the curled lateral portions of leaves. The female nymphs 

 remain feeding and developing near the nymphs, but these are found 

 mostly on the apical shoots. A thin whitish meal covers the dorsum' 

 of the female, and appears laterally as well. This is an index that the 

 nymphs have matured into females which are about to lay eggs, which- 

 He close together within the ovisac. In one case a female was observed 

 to lay eggs in a thin line where each egg appeared like a bead. Some 

 time after the same female was observed to have ceased laying eggs. 

 On examination on the 27th January 1919, it was found to have been 

 parasitized by a Chalcidid and on dissection the pupa of the Chalcidid 

 parasite was found near the mentum. This showed that the internal 

 Chalcidid parasite hibernates during the winter within the body of its 

 host, the female. 



The nymphs as a rule are dark castaneous and as such may easily 

 be distinguished from those of P. hirsutus which are bright pink or 

 from those of P. virgatus which are pale-yellow. On some cotton top- 

 shoots the three species of nymphs may be seen feeding together but 

 with the above test they can easily be differentiated. In fact, while 

 I was working out the life-history of P. hirsutus causing Tukra disease 

 in mulberry, it was a common sight to see the nymphs of P. hirsutus 

 and P. virgatus feeding together on the same shoots and I used to 

 separate them with the colour test alone and thus could isolate the 

 species for specific observations. Like the females, the nymphs too 

 are parasitized by three species of Chalcididse. The parasitized nymph* 

 swell up and turn into round cylindrical bodies with both ends flat- 

 tened. The parasitized nymphs thus become very conspicuous and may 

 then easily be separated under a dissecting microscope from other healthy 

 nymphs. The parasite emerges by pushing out the flattened end at one 

 side, leaving the dead host either on the shoots or near the eggs within 

 the ovisacs. A healthy nymph is dull chocolate brown or dark 

 castaneous, with legs and antennae stramineous. The dorsum is covered 

 with a thin whitish meal and the abdomen is distinctly segmented 

 dorsally. Setae to anal lobes concolorous with legs and antennae, with 

 a pair of stout, whitish threads on the pygidial cleft. This description 

 appHes to a nymph just out of the eggshell and not treated with 

 caustic potash. The adult female (not treated with caustic potash) is 

 broad and flat, dark castaneous, with the dorsum covered with a thin 

 whitish meal. Legs and rostral setae yellow, castaneous. 



