A sterolecaniine. 293 
CHAPTER VII. 
ASTEROLECANIIN#. 
(PLatE CXXXII.) 
IN my earlier synopsis of sub-families of the Coccide (Part I. 
p. 16), Asterolecanium and its allies were included with the 
Dactylopiing, with which they have many general characters in 
common. But, after a more particular study of these genera, I 
have been impressed with the feeling that they form a well-defined 
natural group that may conveniently rank as a separate sub- 
family. The salient character of the group is the possession— 
in one or more stages of the development—of peculiar paired 
(8-shaped) dermal glands. 
The sub-family may be defined as follows :—Species normally 
secreting horny or waxy tests, freely separable from the insect. 
Derm—in one or more stages—with well-defined paired glands. 
Limbs rudimentary or wanting. Anal ring normally setiferous. 
The tests secreted by members of the several genera are some- 
what diverse. In Asterolecanium, this covering is thin and usually 
translucent. It is rapidly dissolved in caustic potash. In typical 
Pollinza (founded upon a single species), the test is of a waxy 
consistency and opaque. The species now added to this genus 
has a covering very closely resembling that of Asterolecanzum. In 
Lecaniodiaspis, the envelope is stouter and more opaque; in some 
species it may be described as of almost a ligneous consistency. 
It resists, to a great extent, the action of caustic potash. The 
test of Cerococcus is largely composed of waxy matter, and breaks 
up, more or less completely, in boiling potash. The aberrant 
genera, Avzorphococcus and Anomalococcus, are naked. 
The paired (8-shaped) dermal glands (fig. 4) are a characteristic 
feature of all the members of the group in the larval stage, and 
are well developed in the adult stages of Asterolecanium and 
Cerococcus. In the former genus, they are responsible for the 
