Masxe1L.—On New Zealand Coccide. 148 
therefore no hesitation in considering it as new, even without seeing the 
adult female. As regards the stage last described, which is certainly not 
the male pupa, I have been in some doubt. The specimens were found 
amongst several hundred male puparia ; but there were only five or six of 
them to be seen, though I made diligent search. A very similar form is 
found amongst male puparia of C. zelandicum—so similar indeed that, 
except in colour, the two are almost identical. In my paper of 1879 
(Trans., vol, xii., p. 296), I described, or rather alluded to, this form as the 
second stage of the female C. zelandicum. I afterwards discovered the 
error and corrected it in vol. xiv. Unless this form be the second stage of 
the male insect I do not know what it can be ; but if it is, then the male of 
Celostoma must pass through more transformations than any other Coccid. 
The normal stages are—1, the egg; 2, the young larva (identical, or nearly 
so, for male and female); 3, the pupa; 4, the perfect insect. Now, the 
form under consideration is certainly not the pupa, and equally certainly 
not the young larva just hatched; it is neither the egg nor the perfect . 
male. Similarly (in C. zelandicum) it is not the larva, nor the adult, nor 
the second stage. It would seem therefore that the insects of this genus 
pass through a transformation more than other Coccids. There is one 
point to be noted. 1 have observed above that in this form the antenne 
have nine joints, and the tibie are twice as long as the tarsi. The first 
character is conclusive against the insect being adult; the pe pum 
is one which, in most Coecids, is considered to indieate an adv ed stage 
M. Signoret (Ann. de la Soc. Entom. de France, 1874, p. 548, note) says: 
“In studying the Coccidæ it should be noted that almost always, when a 
specimen is found with the tibia shorter than the tarsus, it is a larva.” 
The rule is not without exceptions, e.g. Kermes, Acanthococcus, ete. Still, it 
holds good generally, and in this case shows, I I think, clearly that the form 
in question is by no means the first after the egg. Itake it to be an inter- 
mediate state preceding the pupa of the male. 
I am still puzzled by the absence of any sort of mouth. In the form 
just mentioned there. is an orifice between the second pair of legs, as in the 
adult C. zelandicum, but nothing more. & di 
e. 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES I. AND II. 
Pra 
Fig. 1. Aspidiotus sophore, abdomen of Hes Sa d i x 
2. Fiorinia minima x 
boas of fais in di e a. ist | pellicle : b. ond t 
Sabini: b > sali female; d. secretion A a 
4. Fiorinia grossularie, abdomen of female .. si "n È "ud. * UO 
5. „ stricta, abdomen of female .. x 100 
6. diagram of female in Superum: | a. ink sande b. ona 
pellicle : C. quus female; d. secretion 
