80 THte ENTOMOLOGIST. 



THE WEST INDIAN SPECIES OF GEROPLASTES. 

 By T. D. a. Cookekell. 



The Coccid genus Ce7'oplastes, Gray, consists of fourteen 

 described species, of which one is European, one Egyptian, one 

 South African, one from Reunion, one East Indian, one Australian, 

 and the rest American. It is best developed in the neotropical 

 region, although two species occur in Florida, and one of them 

 in Louisiana; as well as a reputed new species in Alabama, 

 and another new species {C. artemisice, Riley MS., nee Rossi) in 

 New Mexico.* 



The West Indian species, if we include some new ones, are 

 eight in number, as at present known, and may be ranged in four 

 groups. 



Group 1. 



Ceroplastes cassi(S, Chavannes, 1848. 



Mr. C. A. Barber sent me specimens of a very fine species, 

 which he had found on Bursera gummifera at Antigua. At first I 

 thought the insect was undescribed, but on further examination 

 it does not seem distinct from C. cassice, which was described 

 from Brazil. The scales are large, about 5 mm. long, excluding 

 the spine, somewhat shiny, red-brown in colour, but parti}' or 

 entirely covered with yellowish white secretion. The wax is 

 thick, and, at least in the adult, there are no distinct lateral 

 plates. Several specimens are often more or less massed together. 

 The caudal horn or spine is stout and very distinct. 



C. fairmairei, Targ., 1868, from Montivideo, belongs to the 

 same group, but is not known from the W. Indies. 



Group 2. 

 Ceroplastes Jioridensis, Comstock, 188J. 



There is a large Ficus in the back yard of the Museum in 

 Kingston, Jamaica, on which this species abounds. It is not 

 found in masses, or gregarious, but occurs most often singly on 

 the upper side of a leaf, either at the distal end of the leaf-stalk 

 or somewhere on the midrib. 



It is noteworthy that in many examples of C. Jioridensis the 

 white secretion of the central plate is not in the centre of it, as 

 in other species, but placed to one side. This character, however, 

 is not invariable, and it may be due to parasites. Although I have 

 reared no parasites from the Jamaican C. Jioridensis, many speci- 

 mens show holes where they have escaped. A single specimen 

 on Adiantum, either C. Jioridensis or closely allied, also shows the 

 middle nucleus of secretion placed quite to one side. 



* See * Amer. Nat.,' May, 1881 ; ' Insect Life,' vol. iii. p. 398 ; Howard, 

 ' Descr. N. Amer. Chalcididse,' 1885, p. 18. 



