THE COCCIDAE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 31 



231. Ceroplastes longicauda, sp. n. 



Adult $ covered with a very thick layer of soft, white wax forming a test like a 

 large ceriferus specimen, i.e., a little more elevated than egbarum. Largest specimen 

 seen measured 18 mm. long, 11 mm. wide and 12 mm. high; marginal area 

 prominent, forming a wide fold at the base of the central dome. The waxy 

 appendages from the stlgmatic clefts only project slightly from the main mass 

 of the fold. 



Adult $, denuded of wax, bright brown in colour, about 5 mm. long without 

 caudal process, which alone measures 3'5 mm. The body is ± star-shaped witli 

 three short, lateral pointed spurs and one anterior. These, are sharper and more 

 prominent than those of ceriferus. The dorsum is very convex, rising with straight 

 sides to an acute point. The caudal process is exceedingly long, two thirds the lengt'.i 

 of body, piceous, slightly tapering, and extends in a horizontal direction, i.e., flat 

 along the twig. 



Cleared and mounted, the insect is remarkable for the broad oval, thin, trans- 

 parent body with a very long dense black tail. The integument is uniformly hyaline, 

 without chitmous marginal discs such as those found in fuller i, etc. In stained 

 material the integument of the dorsum illustrates a strange segmentation ± in 

 plates, 5 elongate transverse median ones and shorter laterals. 



The antennae are 7 or8-jointed, e.g., (1) 40, (2) 37, (3) 40, (4) 47, (5) 68, (6) 30, 

 •(7) 27, (8) 37// : or (1 ) 23, (2) 34, (3) 40, (4) 88 (with pseudarticulation), (5) 27, (6) 27, 

 (7) 37//. 



Stigmatic cleft thin, hyaline, with a patch of scattered, short, thimble-shaped 

 spines and, w^ithin this, a large group of simple glands similar to the circumgenitil 

 glands of the Diaspinae. 



Legs comparatively short, otherwise normal. 



Habitat : On stems of native shrub ; collected by C. Fuller, Natal Coast, Julv 

 1915. 



Collection No. : 334. 



This species is very similar in many respects to C. ceriferus but may be 

 readily separated by the larger size of the adult $ test, the comparatively longer 

 •caudal process and the 7 or 8-joint3d antennae. C. ceriferus has antennae 5 or 6- 

 jointed, usually 6. 



232. Ceroplastes mimosae, Sign. (Plate ii, fig. 241). 

 Ceroplastes mirnosae, Sign., Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5) ii, p. 46, 1872. 

 Ceroplastes africaims, Green, Ann. Mag. N. H. (7) iv, p. 188, 1899. 



" Insects crowded on the stems of the plant, so much so that the waxy covering 

 of adjacent individuals becomes more or less confluent and the normal form of the 

 test is difficult to determine. The tests appear as rounded masses of cream-coloured 

 wax, each with a more or less distinct nipple-like prominence at the apex bearing 

 a small spot of whiter substance. 



" The usual opaque white bands from the spiracular regions are present, but very 

 inconspicuous, scarcely extending beyond the margin. In some specimens a series 



