THE WEST INDIAN SPECIES OF DACTYLOPIUS. l77 



and those on primaries are not nearly so bent as cecropia, and on 

 both wings are broader than cecropia,- outer margin of secon- 

 daries of same shade as primaries, not darker as in cecropia, the 

 whole insect being slightly below the size of cecropia. 



Hybrid C. ceanothi-cecropia. — This is nearer, to ray mind, to 

 cecropia than ceanothi in size and shape of wings though inter- 

 mediate in markings, but a lighter colour than either parents. 

 The costa of primaries of ceanothi is straight for three-fourths 

 its distance from the base, in the hybrids it is arched all the 

 way as in cecropia ; the outer magin of the secondaries of 

 ceanothi are not rounded as we find in cecropia, and in this again 

 the hybrids distinctly take after cecropia. The costa of secon- 

 daries of ceanothi have a dip in them ; in cecropia, arched ; the 

 costa of hybrids, as in their primaries, is arched also. The 

 white bar on the wings of the hybrids, however, conforms much 

 more nearly to ceanothi, and the ocellus of both primaries and 

 secondaries is intermediate in shape between their two parents, 

 having the width of cecropia and the length of ceanothi, in which 

 species, as in the hybrids, the outer point merges into the white 

 bar on the secondaries. The under side of secondaries of 

 cecropia has a whitish band commencing at the base, where it is 

 slightly wider, running round the costa and meeting the white 

 band of the outer margin. In ceanothi this band is nearly 

 obsolete, but on the costa and a little from the base is a pinkish 

 spot. In the hybrids this spot is dilated into an elliptic or 

 spindle-shaped spot, running to the base of the wing on the one 

 side, and on the other side narrowed out into a mere streak along 

 the costa till it meets marginal band of white, into which it 

 merges. 



In conclusion, whilst writing these descriptions, I have 

 thought to make up a list of hybrids occurring in the Bomby- 

 cidse, and would like information of any which are known, giving 

 particulars as to which species was used, as male and female 

 parents, sexes of hybrids, and which parent each sex takes after. 



177, Moss Lane East, Moss Side, Manchester. 



THE WEST INDIAN SPECIES OF DACTYLOPIUS. 



By T. D. a. Cockerell, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



The genus Dactylopius, Signoret, includes the Coccidse 

 commonly known as mealy-bugs, and consists at present of 

 forty-one known species. Of these, sixteen have been described 

 by Maskell, eleven by Signoret, three each by Bouche and 

 Coquillett, and one each by Linne, Gennadius, Boisduval, 

 Comstock, Douglas, Niedielski, Newstead, and Lucas. A few 



