268 E. T. Atkiiisou — On the IIomo2)terous Family Coccidee. [No. 3, 



(1) Chermes, Geoff, nee. Linn, including those having the form of a 

 shield and (2) Coccus for the remainder. Bouche further separated the 

 genus Chermes of Geoffroy into two divisions, (a) : — those in which 

 the body itself of the insect has or assumes the shield-like form, and 

 (h) : — those in which the insect is concealed beneath a distinct move- 

 able shield. It is, however, to the works of Targioni and Signoret 

 that we have to look for the systematic classification of the insects 

 of this family and for those characteristics common to nearly all the 

 species on which the family is founded. The larval form has six legs, 

 two antennoe, and two eyes, and there is no visible distinction between 

 the sexes : the adult 9 has usually neither wings, legs, nor antennge, 

 but is furnished with a setiform rostrum or sucking apparatus : the 

 adult $, on the other hand, has two wings, two processes similar to the 

 balteres of the Diptera in place of hind- wings, legs, antennae, two and 

 sometimes four eyes, but no rostrum : the adult S also is less common 

 than the adult ^ , indeed in some genera has not yet been discovered. 



Signoret distributes the genera of this family amongst four sub- 

 divisions or sub- families : — 



Diaspina : — Comprising those insects which are covered by a scale 

 or pellicle composed partly of the exuviae or moulted skins of each 

 transformation and partly of a secretion formed by the insect itself and 

 which is attached to the cast-off skin, the two forming a shield more 

 or less independent of the body of the insect and which is variously 

 called scale, shield, buckler, test, or puparium (boucUer, schild). 



Brachyscelina : — Comprising species living in tubes or galls and 

 of which the $ resembles the 9 of the preceding sub-family and the <J, 

 with its hook-shaped genital sheath, furnished with lateral filaments, 

 the ^ of the Coccina. 



Lecanina : — Comprising species either naked or inclosed or simply 

 covered with a waxy or filamentary or even calcareous material : most 

 of the 9 take on an entirely different form after impregnation and then 

 fixed to their food-plant remain so fixed for the rest of their lives. 

 The lower-lip is one-jointed : the anal extremity is cleft and has two 

 triangular lobes or plates above the cleft. 



Coccina : — Comprising species in which the adult ? is naked or is 

 covered moreor less with a whitish waxy matter, varying much in form 

 and consistence : the lower-lip is 2 — 3 jointed ; the anal extremity is 

 not cleft, but is produced in two tubercles more or less developed and 

 prominent, each of which is furnished with a long bristle : the trian- 

 gular lobes or plates of the Lecanina are wanting : at the last stage the 

 $ is usually inclosed in a cottony or felted or calcareous envelope that 

 forms a receptacle for the eggs. 



