312 TlMEHRI. 



on which they feed. At first, both males and females 

 are so nearly alike that the difference is microscopic. 

 When they change their first skin, however, they become 

 very different, as the scales of Diaspis cymbidii, which 

 I have figured, show. Both males and females now be- 

 come stationary. The females increase in size, but, 

 except in this particular, do not change. The males, 

 however, at the right time emerge from their masks as 

 minute two-winged flies, which copulate with the females, 

 and these then die, leaving under their dead bodies the 

 fertilized eggs, and so, the record begins again. 



The above information may be found more at length 

 in the ''Entomological Monthly Magazine" since Dec- 

 ember, 1888, and the last two numbers of the "Journal 

 of the Quekett Microscopic Club." 



Note. — Further consignments of fern leaves of various 

 kinds with Ceroplastes upon them having arrived, Mr. 

 DOUGLAS has had better opportunities of examining 

 this curious creature. He thinks, with some doubt how- 

 ever, that it is C. vinsont, a species which is found in 

 the Mauritius upon guava and Japanese medlar. 



The following extract from one of the letters from 

 Mr. DOUGLAS shows, on the one hand, the desire of our 

 advanced entomologists to acquire all information res- 

 pecting the Coccidse and their allies, and on the other 

 the stern determination to prevent, when possible, exotic 

 species from getting a footing in the plant houses in this 

 country. 



"In the 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1855, WESTWOOD 

 described and roughly figured an insect which he called 

 Orthezia seychellarum. This has since never been 



