44 • [ Jul y- 



having four wings, such as the Homoptera and Tlymcnoptera. This 

 fact might perhaps with some reason lead one to suppose that this 

 club-shaped balancer is but the homologue of the posterior wing. The 

 male insect in those species in which it has been observed is not pro- 

 vided with any mouth or buccal organs, in which respect it resembles 

 the true male of Phylloxera vastatrix, belonging to the allied family of 

 Aphides. The male Coccus is furnished with a remarkably developed, 

 exserted, reproductive organ, this being often half as long as the insect 

 itself In place of the mouth are two large eyes, each protected by a 

 stout spinal hair, and which are, in addition to the usual eyes, on the 

 upper-side of the head. In many species the male has not been 

 observed, and it has been supposed that the reproduction is agamic, 

 which is perhaps not surprising, considering the similarity in many 

 other respects between the allied families of Goccidce and Aphides. 

 The female, as it approaches the adult state (referring especially to 

 the Diaspince), shows, like the male, remarkable powers of adapting 

 itself to its circumstances or requirements, either by the degeneration 

 of one part or the elaboration of another. As the chief functions of 

 the male appear to be sexual, the generative organ is remarkably de- 

 veloped, as we have already shown, whilst the buccal organs are 

 completely atrophied, and apparently were transformed into organs of 

 sight ; whilst the functions of the female being to reproduce, and its 

 large heavy size when gravid rendering it almost impossible to move, 

 the antennae and legs are completely suppressed in the adult state, 

 and the oral seta? are extraordinarily developed, these being frequently 

 some six times or more longer than the insect itself, and enabling the 

 insect, as I suppose by their means, to pierce the stomata of the plant, 

 and thus find a way to the cell-contents of the leaf or bark. These 

 setsB must also be useful to the insect it preventing it being blown off 

 its site by the wind or other cause, for I have frequently found them 

 suspended by the haustellunt, and I have sometimes experienced con- 

 siderable difficulty in removing them, owing to the firm hold of the" 

 leaf afforded by the setse. This circumstance is also noted by Mr. 

 Buckton (Brit. Aph., vol. i, p. 17) with regard to Chermes laricis. 



The family of Coccidce {Homoptera) have been divided by Signorct, 

 Comstock, &c, into four sub-families, viz. :— 

 (i). DiASPiNiE : forming scales under which the insect lives. 



(ii). BitACiiYSCiELiivriE : living in galls, but not known in Europe or 



North America, 

 (iii). Lecanin2E : ") cither naked or enclosed in a waxy filamentous or 

 (iv). Cocointe : J spumous covering. 



