9382 Entomological Society. 



liquids which it is so easy to obtain in every manufactory. Strongly odoriferous sub- 

 stances and oil of naphtha, mixed in small quantities with liquids of inferior quality, 

 may also be utilized iu the same manner, and render excellent service. The sul- 

 phurous solution, which is obtained when a mixture of sulphur and lime is boiled in 

 water, would likewise produce a favourable result iu destroying the ' louse,' if it were 

 applied on a large scale. These are different substances, all injurious to the insect, 

 capable of easy employment, and to which it is sufficient for me to call attention. 



" I was unwilling to speak of the larva without indicating summarily the means 

 which have appeared to me the most suitable for opposing it; because it is at this 

 period of its existence that it can be profitably and easily got at; later on, the remedy 

 will have lost its chief quality, that of preventing the adherence of the insect to the 

 leaf, and the mischief will have already been done. 



" The Female. — The female is the ' white-pouched louse,' in the most general and 

 common acceptation of the term ; it is she, in fact, that has been so designated, and it 

 is she only with which the planters are acquainted. She appears ar first on the leaves 

 of the sugar-cane like a white dot, of a size and transparency such that she escapes a 

 rapid examination, even by persons accustomed to recognise her. The hinder half of 

 the body is surrounded by a white circle formed by the secretion of the filamentous 

 wool which always precedes oviposition and accumulates as the eggs are laid. 



"Three weeks are generally sufficient for the accomplishment of the laying of the 

 eggs. The hatching soon follows; and the young 'lice,' before quitting their nest 

 for good, often return under the roof offered them by their mother, whose body, even 

 after death, still shelters and protects them. The feet of the female insect disappear 

 or wither away, and later on dry up in contact with the abdomen, where they may be 

 found for a long lime iu the form of yellow and tough fragments. No trace exists of 

 the antenna; and tail, and the eggs are indicated only by two very small black dots 

 placed on either side the head, which merges in the body. The general form of the 

 insect is then elliptic, flattened on the abdominal side, and projecting from front to 

 rear on the median dorsal line. At its circumference the body, except iu the rear, 

 where there is a deep slit, is thiu and armed with filaments which serve to make it adhere 

 firmly to the leaf of the plant. In front these filamentous appendages, to the number 

 of four or five, often acquire a considerable length, and are doubtless designed to 

 facilitate suction. The mouth is a snout (une trompe), which extends beyond the head 

 and bends downwards ; I have not been able to analyse the different elements of which 

 this snout is formed. The digestive tube, which runs from the mouth, ends in front of 

 the posterior abdominal slit in a sort of cloaca, a vast cavity which affords an outlet for 

 the excrementatious matters and the eggs. The abdomen is covered with transverse 

 folds, which become very manifest, and execute concentric intermittent movements 

 during the whole duration of the egg-laying. The whole abdominal tegument is fur- 

 nished with glandular follicles, designed for the secretion of the white matter; that of 

 the back is, on the contrary, perfectly smooth. On each side of the anterior part of 

 the body may be seen a pair of orifices communicating with some transverse conduits, 

 which inside divide themselves into branches ; these are the stigmata and air-bearing 

 canals, which constitute the respiratory apparatus of the insect. The small round 

 bodies disposed in pairs on the lateral parts of the abdomen show the nervous gan- 

 glions, of which three very distinct pairs may ordinarily be recognized. The female 

 is apterous. 



" It may be remarked that the female, however different its aspect from that of the 



