Jf 0# 4,] Rhynchota. 189 



to them white ceroid nodules, varying in size from a sweet pea to a field 

 pea and also in shape, but more or less oval at the base where attached 

 to the twig and with the apex blunt or acuminate. The leaves had a 

 number of white powdery minute particles strewn irregularly over the 

 upper surface. The latter represent the larval stages of a Diaspid coccid 

 belonging to the genus Chionaspis, named C. thece by Mr. Maskell, and 

 the larger ceroid nodules, a species of the genus Ceroplastes, Gray. 



Very little is known of the history and habits of the coccids of this 

 group, aud it will be useful to state here what we do know. The first 

 Indian species known was found in Madras, and was named Coccus ceri- 

 ferus, by Mr. Anderson. 1 It is next mentioned by Mr. Pearson in Phil. 

 Trans., lxxxiv, 1794, p. 1, and by Fabricius in his Ent. Syst. Suppl., 

 1798, p. 546, and Syst. Rhyng., 1803, p. 311. In 1830, Dr. Gray 2 

 formed for this and some other similar South American insects the genus 

 Ceroplastes. The female alone is known, and is described by Dr. Gray 

 from his South American specimens as covered with a wax-like, white 

 test, comprising seven plates arranged in two lateral pairs, and a 

 median series consisting of an anterior, a dorsal, and a posterior plate; 

 the nucleus of the six marginal plates is close to the lower edge, that of 

 the dorsal one nearly central. 



In 1853, Mr. Westwood 3 notices and figures Coccus ceriferus, and an 

 allied species from Brazil. He writes that the female has the body large 

 and nearly globular, composed of a hard solid white waxy matter, but 

 gives no detailed description. 



I again find the same insect mentioned in the Proceedings* of the 

 Agri-Horticultural Society, Calcutta, as having been sent from Chota- 

 Nagpur by Mr. Peppe in 1875. Mr. Moore examined the insect then, 

 and reported it to be doubtless the Coccus ceriferus of Anderson, found 

 on the Mango, Arjun, Pipal and other trees, and now on tea. He fur- 

 ther noticed that it is allied to the pela b of the Chinese [Ericerus), and 

 gave the following analysis of the waxy substance of the test :— 



" Of a dull opaque, pale-brown colour : the outer test darker and somewhat trans- 

 lucent : moderately hard and brittle ; of somewhat pleasaut smell. On crushing in a 

 mortar, minute drops of water made their appearance : on heating, it spluttered much 

 owing to the disengagement of steam : at 55° C. (131° F.) it melted to a clear liquid 

 with a slight flaky deposit : 05868 gramme burned left an unweighable trace of ash 

 absolute alcohol dissolves 34 per cent., boiling absolute alcohol leaves 1*02 per cent, of 

 the wax undissolved. As regards alcohol, therefore, the wax behaves as follows : — Soluble 

 iu cold alcohol, 34/00: soluble in boiling alcohol, 64'98 : insoluble in alcohol, 1*02. 

 In either the wax dissolves freely but not entirely : in essence of turpentine it is very 



1 Monograph of Coccus ceriferus, Madras, 1791. 



2 Spicilegia Zoologica, 1830, p. 7. 



8 Gardener's Chronicle for July 30, 1853, p. 484. 



* 18th March 1875, p. vii ; 24th February 1876, p. xii. 



5 Siguoret, Ann. Soc. Ent. Yi: (5"s.), iv, 1874, p. 91, 



