206 [Soptombur, 



In my hurried examination of the species last year the dimerous 

 tarsi were overlooked, and the species was provisionally recorded as 

 SpermococGus fallax, Giard (Ent. Mo. Mag., 1893, p. 207) ; subse-- 

 quently I thought it might be a more advanced stage of Lecanopsis' 

 formicarum, Newst. That it is neither of these species I am now 

 quite certain, for Mr. C. "W. Dale has quite settled the matter as to 

 the latter, and Giard's description does not agree in any of the salient 

 characters. 



Described from twelve mounted $ , many larvae, and sacs of the ? . 



Lecanopsis foemicaeum, Newstead. 



Ent. Mo. Mag., 2nd Ser., vol. iv, p. 205 (1893). 



Adult $ at gestation envelopes herself in a white cottony material, which is so 

 loose that it can scarcely be called a sac. Long., about 5 mm. 



Larva elongate ; antennae of six short wide joints, of which the 3rd is longest, 

 basal joint very wide. Legs with a few hairs, rather short and stout, tarsi shorter 

 than the tibiae ; digitules to claw and tarsi ordinary. Anal lobes and slit 

 as in the Lecaniidce. Anal setaes long. Anal ring of (?) six hairs. Rostrum very 

 large and wide ; mentura uniarticulate, wider than long, anterior angles narrowly 

 rounded ; unexpanded filaments very long, reaching to the base of the 4th abdominal 

 segment. Arising from the centre of the mentum are three rather long, straight, 

 wide filaments. Abdominal segments each with a conspicuous hemispherical disc, 

 having a very slender short hair in the centre ; these are not continued at the sides 

 of the thorax, but there are about six of them on the margin in front between the 

 antennae ; margin opposite the three pairs of legs with several large circular spin- 

 nerets, arranged in groups of four or five. 



Described from two sacs of the ? and many larvse. Received 

 from Mr. C. W. Dale, who sent the following interesting communi- 

 cation : — 



" The history of L. formicarum, as far as I can make out, is that she spins and 

 envelopes herself in cotton (after the manner of a moth larva), after forsaking the 

 ants. 



" Then the first meal of the young ones consists of the body of their mother. 

 Your premise about the $ secreting a pad of cotton beneath her is not correct, and 

 she is viviparous, like some of the Aphides. I have never found any ovisacs in 

 company with ants, and I fancy that in previous years I have been rather too early 

 for them. I have never seen L . formicarum except on the Chesil Beach. 



" Beclcia albinos and Platyarthrus Hoffmanseggii also occur in company with 

 the ants, Formica nigra and /Zaca, and it is a strange thing that very few Coleoptera 

 occur in their nests. L. formicarum feeds on the roots of a short stiff grass which 

 grows on sand hills." — May 2Qth, 1894. 



It will be seen that in many of its structural characters the larva 

 differs very considerably from that of the preceding species (^Excere- 

 topus formiceticola) . The rostrum is exceptionally large, and the 



