No. 2.] Notes on insect pest's from the Entomological Section. 69 



badly attacked may be easily recognised by its denuded appearance, 

 and the total absence of the leaves. 



The larva, in which stage the insect is mostly injurious, is about 

 three-fourths of an inch in length, and of a dirty yellowish colour. 

 It is soft and of a flesh-like consistency, about three times as long 

 as thick, with the body much wrinkled transversely. The head and 

 the neck is black and shining. Three pairs of legs are placed 

 anteriorly upon the breast, and are of the same shining black colour 

 with the head. It usually hides itself by covering its body with its 

 own excrement, and in this state, it so exactly resembles like the 

 dropping of a bird that it is frequently mistaken for such, and thus 

 it is able to escape detection from its numerous aerial enemies. 

 This curious habit of covering the body with its own excrement is 

 no doubt a case of true "protective resemblance." The time the 

 larva takes to change into the pupa state is not known, but it trans- 

 forms, by descending into the ground in a rough earthen cell, oval in 

 shape and about the size of a hazel nut. 



The beetle is a common and widely distributed species in the 

 East and equally variable, the spots are as frequently united and 

 form broad, dentated transverse bands of brown or black. It measures 

 a little over one-half of an inch in length, is of an oblong form, and 

 of a yellowish-brown colour. It feigns death when alarmed i)r cap- 

 tured. 



The Indian Museum possesses specimens from Calcutta, 

 Murshidabad, Sikkim, Shillong, and Andaman Island. 



2. ORANGE SCALE INSECT. 

 2. Aspidiotus ficus (Riley), Comstock. 



Plate VI, Fig. 2— a, scales on leaves 0/ orange, natural sise ; h, scale of 

 female, enlarged ; c, scale of male, enlarged ; d^, young larva, enlarged ; e, adult 

 male, enlarged. 



In October 1894., Mr. Marshall Woodrow, Director of Botanical 

 Survey, College of Science, Poona, forwarded to the Indiirin Museum 

 specimens of orange leaves infested by scale insects, with the inform- 

 ation that they were seriously injuring orange and lime trees at 

 Kachaldara House, Khandalla. 



The orange leaves proved to be attacked by a species of scale 

 insect (Coccid) not previously reported from India. Specimens were 



