220 Transaciions.—Zoology. 
The abdominal segments overlap each other, tending to the form of abdomen 
ofthe male Coccidm. The antenne, which are thick, have six joints. The 
claw of the foot is very small. 
Dactylopius poe, 8p. nov. 
Plate VIL., fig. 19. 
This species is found on the roots of the common tussock grass, or rather 
on the stems close to the ground. 
It is a rather large insect, bright pink in colour, covered with a white 
meal, and with a very regular oval outline; flat on the underside, convex 
above. The mentum has a few hairs at the tip ; the seta are long. 
The antenne are very short; the second and third joints are the longest; 
the last joint has a few hairs. Fig. 19e. 
The legs are short; the eoxa thick, the femur somewhat thinner, the 
tibie and tarsus still less and about equal in length. The upper digitules, 
fig. 19f, are not long, the lower inconspicuous, if not wanting. There are a 
few hairs on the tarsus. 
The anal tubercles are extremely small, searcely perceptible ; each has 
three conical spines but no hairs, and a few other spines are visible on the 
abdomen. The anal ring has, I think, six hairs; fig. 19g. All over the 
body are numbers of small circular spinnerets. —' 
I have not the male of this species, which is, I think, certainly new. 
IV.—lIoznva, Signoret. 
My specimens of this subdivision were found on a hedge of the kangaroo 
acacia, in Auckland, in March last. I understood from Mr. Cheeseman 
and Dr. Purchas, who kindly brought the insect under my notice, that it 
had only lately appeared in Auckland, and that it was only, as yet, to be 
found upon that one hedge. The plants, I may say, were nearly destroyed 
by the insects, which covered them in great numbers; and the large size 
and peculiar appearance of the pest were very striking. 
The genus Icerya belongs to the Monophlebide, a family of Coccide, 
which has eleven joints in the antenne of the female, and ten in the 
antenne of the male. There are several genera of these, but the insect 
before me seems certainly to belong to Icerya. There is but one feature,. 
the absence of which in my species may perhaps relegate it to some new 
genus. M. Signoret says that, after treatment with potash, a tube may be 
seen above the anal orifice forming a sort of folded ring; this tube he takes 
to be the oviduct. I have not been able to observe this tube although I 
have examined several specimens. At the same time all the other features 
correspond to the description of the genus Icerya; and I am not inclined 
to attempt the formation of a new genus simply on account of the absence 
of a feature which perhaps I ought to have been able to make out. 
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