MISS EMBLETON ON CKKATAPIIIS LATANI^,. 91 



Coccus. He describes the colour and form of" tlie several stages 

 through which it passes, and states that it has been reported as 

 doing damage to the young shoots of Latania hoi^bonica, and as 

 occurring in all its stages on the leaves of L. rubra. He sent it 

 to M. Signoret, who concluded that it belonged to the ' Penta- 

 toniides,' " mais ayaut remis cette annee au niois d'avril a sa 

 disposition des iudiyidus plus developpes, il est reyenu sur cette 

 opinion ; aujourd'hui il ne serait pas eloigne de le regarder eomme 

 le premier etat d'un genre nouveau voisin des Aleurodes. 

 D'autant plus qu'un autre insecte analogue trouve en Provence, 

 sur le laurier-tin et que, tous les deux, nous avions pris pour 

 line Coecide, lui a produit une Aleurode voisine de celle que Ton 

 recontre sur le chelidoine." 



The next year Signoret * described it at length in his mono- 

 graph of Aleu7'odid(S, where he named it Boisduvalia latanice. 

 though he had doubts as to its systematic position, being uncer- 

 tain whether it belonged to the AphidcB or Coccidce. The male 

 being unknown, Signoret suggested that it may be winged, and 

 that its life may be short like that of the males of Dortliesia 

 and. of Coccidce. His specimens came from the Isle of Bourbon, 

 where they were living on Latania. 



Four years later Signoret t again refers to this insect, in a 

 letter from Venice, in which he says that lie can now settle the 

 vexed question as to its afBnities. " En effet, M. Targioui-Tozzetti 

 vient de demontrer que c'est uu etat particulier d'un Aphidien 

 attaque par des Gregariues ; il y a arret de developpement et 

 formation d'un etat tout particulier. M. Targioni a eu la bonne 

 fortune de suivre le developpement normal de cet Aphis qui vit 

 sur les Latanice, et il en donnera la description detaillee dans le 

 Bulletin de la Societe entomologique italienne." We may sup- 

 pose that this idea was abandoned, for no record appears in the 

 Bull. Soc. Ent. Ital. from 1872-188S of any publications by 

 Targioni-Tozzetti, or any other writer, on the subject. 



An insect like this was described by Westwood % in 1879 

 under the name of Asterolecanium orcliidearum, " a new species 

 of scale insect." He calls it the fimbriated or star-scale, and 

 places it in the genus Asterolecanium, which had been erected bv 



* Ann. Soc. Ent. France, (4) viii. 1868, p. 400, pi. x. figs. 2, 2 a. 



t Bull. Soc. Ent. France, (5) ii. 1872, p. xxx. 



+ ' Gardeners' Chronicle,' ser. 2, xii. 1879, p. 796, fig. 131. 



