Asterolecanimm. erat 
ASTEROLECANIUM, TZargzonz-Tozzettz. 
Asterolecanium, Targ., Intr. 2nd Mem. Studi Cocc., Catalogue, p. 41 (1869) ; 
Sign., Aum. Soc. Ent. Fr. (4), Vol. X. p. 276 (1870). 
Planchonia, Sign., Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (4), Vol. X. p. 282 (1879). 
Asterodiaspis, Sign., Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5), Vol. VI. p. ccix. (1876). 
Female insect completely enclosed within a thin but compact horny test, 
characterised by a continuous marginal fringe of glassy filaments. The test 
may be hemispherical, flat, or even somewhat concave above. It varies in 
outline from circular to linear. The surface is usually smooth, with, in some 
species, erect or curling filaments on the disc, similar to those of the marginal 
series. In one species (covonatum) there is a series of pointed prominences on 
the dorsum. At the posterior extremity there is a small opening through which 
the larvee escape. This aperture is sometimes placed at the end of a tubular 
extension which is often more or less elevated. The colour of the test is 
invariably of a greenish or yellowish tint, but the fringe and dorsal filaments 
are sometimes tinged with red. The structure of the fringe calls for more 
particular notice. In many species the filaments are so small, so imperfect, or 
so matted together, that their arrangement cannot be clearly distinguished. 
But, by analogy from the disposition of the glands by which they are secreted, 
the arrangement must be practically identical in all. In some of the larger 
species (¢.2., bambuse, aureum, and delicatum) no such difficulty arises. In 
such species, there can be readily distinguished three distinct series of paired 
filaments :—(1) An outermost (imaginal) series, springing from the extreme 
margin, in which the filaments are placed side by side, with practically no 
interruption. (2) A dorso-marginal (nymphal) series, arising just within the 
margin and partly overlapping the outer series, the filaments usually more 
widely spaced and interrupted at more or less regular intervals. (3) An inner 
(larval) series, consisting usually of twenty-eight curling or crook-shaped paired 
filaments, very widely spaced, the anterior sixteen pairs with their two filaments 
divergent from the base, the remaining twelve pairs with coherent filaments 
curved towards the posterior extremity of the insect. The individual filaments 
of each pair in the two outer series are also usually more or less divergent 
towards their distal extrem ties, the point of separation varying in different 
species. A careful study of the development of the test, from the earliest stages, 
makes it clear that these three series are referable to the larval, nymphal, and 
imaginal stages of the insect respectively. The covering of the larval insect 
carries only a single series of crook-shaped filaments, placed directly on the 
margin. The nymphal covering has a continuous marginal fringe of straight or 
partially divergent filaments, and a submarginal series of crooked filaments, the 
latter having been carried over from the previous stage. The test of the adult 
female has three series, the outermost fringe being proper to the adult insect, 
while the other two are legacies from the previous moults. During the process 
of expansion by growth, the earlier series have become broken up and 
