98 



[May, 



a little longer than the mentum. Legs stout, and 

 longer than the antennse ; digitules of the tarsi very 

 slightly dilated, those of the claw more strongly so. 

 Anal ring of six hairs, which are about half the 

 length of the long caudal setse. Dermis (fig. 13) 

 thickly set with tubular spinnerets, having compound 

 orifices, which are smaller and concentrated at the 

 marginal hairs near the posterior extremity of the 

 body ; there are also numerous hairs of varying 

 length. Long, 2"75-3 mm. ; wide, l-25-l'7o mm. 



Sac of the adult ? composed of a thick white 

 felting ; is of a more or less globular form, but fre- 

 quently much distorted by contact with the roots 

 and stems of its habitat. 



Longest axis, 4-5 mm. ; narrowest, 2 mm. 



Hah. : on roots of grass and composites ; Argentieres, Haute 

 Savoie, at 5000 feet; August, 1897. Collected bj Mr. Brockton 

 Tomlin, to whom I am indebted for the specimens. 



In its large size and the character of the ovisac the species re- 

 sembles H. Tomlinii, Newst. ; but is distinguished by its stronger 

 antennse and legs, and by the numerous spinnerets and hairs on the 

 dermis. The specimens examined were all old adults, I canrot, 

 therefore, account for the variation in the number of antennal joints. 



Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. 



DaCTTLOPIUS LOIfGIFILIS, T.-T. 



The Director of the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, has kindly forwarded 

 to me a quantity of coffee leaves and stems infested w'ith this pest, 

 together with the following extract from a letter addressed to him 

 from Mr. A. Whyte, British Central African Administration, dated 

 April 26th, 1897: — "I am sending you by this mail a small tin 

 containing coffee leaves affected with the white bug, which has 

 been very destructive to coffee this season wherever it appears, 

 the branches get perfectly covered with it, and the leaves and berries 

 fall off. What has been done by Mr. Mallock on Buchanan's Estates 

 here is to cut the tree (which is not actually killed) down to within a 

 short distance of the root, stump it in fact, carefully collecting and 

 burning the affected leaves and branches, and burying the bugs which 

 may have dropped off during the process. By this means it is checked, 

 but at a great sacrifice, large black patches appearing here and there 

 in what was formerly a fine regular plantation. New suckers are soon 

 thrown up from the stump, and the one selected for the future tree, 

 generally under such circumstances, gives a crop the second year * *." 



The examples submitted to me for identification were collected at 



