152 [December, 



of Lecanium acuminatum, Sign, (of which more hereafter) ; and on 

 both also, in all stages of development, the still more interesting 

 scales of the following species. 



VlNSOKIA STELLIFEBA. 

 Coccus stellifer, Westw., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1871, Proceed., p. 3. 

 Vinsonia pulcliella, Sign., Ess. Cochen., p. 190, pi. vii, fig. 7. 



This " magnifique espece," as Signoret calls it, one of the most 

 remarkable of all the many singular forms of scales of the Coccidce, 

 has been separated generically by him, under the name of Vinsonia, 

 and placed nest to Ceroplastes, as being one of the species masked with 

 a waxen covering. He says : — 



" The pellicle which covers the insect is thin, of waxen appearance, corneous, 

 transparent, forming on its disc a testudinate marquetry, and on each side radiating 

 arms to the number of seven, of which one corresponds to the head and the others 

 to the stigmata, there is also a very short one at the anus. We know only the 

 female, which has the form of a star, the branches in all their extent covering the 

 vacant space which forms the stigmatiferous tube, observable in all the Lecanidce. 

 At a more advanced age the secretion encroaches on the vacant space between the 

 branches of the star, which then appear to be united by a membrane. The dorsal 

 disc is convex, semi-globose. The secretion being removed, and then a corneous 

 skin, the insect is seen beneath it, of a rounded oval form, a little narrowed towards 

 the head, blackish in colour, with a quantity of embryonic larvae or eggs beneath it. 

 The antennae have six joints, the 1st very broad, the 3rd longest, equal to the last 

 three together, the 6th longer than the two preceding it." 



To this very good description of the female, perfectly applicable 

 to the scales now before me, it need only be added, that the. dimensions 

 vary, according. to age, from -§ to 3 mm., measured transversely from 

 the point of one ray to the point of another ; that in the ultimate 

 condition the white waxen covering has disappeared from the round, 

 convex, brown centre, and that the rays are shortened by more than 

 half their length. Signoret obtained specimens from mango trees in 

 Reunion and orchids in plant stoves in Paris. 



]n the "Transactions of the Entomological Society" for 1871 

 (I. c), in the report of the meeting on February 6th of that year, is 

 a brief description by Professor "Westwood of Coccus stellifer, a new 

 species infesting the leaves of the orchid Oypripedium niveum from 

 Siam. This description Signoret recognised (Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 

 1876, p. 608) as that of his Vinsonia pulcliella, but although he had 

 figured the species, and it was published in the " Annales " in 1S70, 

 pi. 8, fig. 7, there was no name or description with it, and these did 

 not appear until 1872 in the "Annales " for that year, pp. 33 and 34, 



