268 Ceroplastes. 
CEROPLASTES, Gray. 
Ceroplastes, Gray, Spicilegia Zoologica, p. 7, pl. III. figs. 6, 7 (1830). 
Columnea, Targ., Studiz sul Coccz, p. 11 (1867). 
Adult female usually more or less hemispherical ; the body of the insect con- 
cealed beneath an inseparable dense waxy covering, which is often demarked 
into definite plates—especially on the marginal area. The apex of this covering 
(or ‘test’) bears a small oblong raised pad of wax, and there is usually a series 
of waxy points springing from depressed spots corresponding with the centres 
of the eight marginal plates. The apical pad and the submarginal points are 
the direct representatives of the early larval test, the parts having become 
widely separated during the subsequent growth of the insect. The formation 
of the test can be best understood by a study of the earlier stages. The larval 
test (see Plate CV. fig. 12) consists of a dense median pad (sometimes—as in 
actiniformis—transversely bisected), which covers the greater part of the dorsal 
area. Surrounding this is a series of fifteen radiating conical processes. The 
three anterior processes subsequently become incorporated in the cephalic 
plate. The two following processes on each side become the centres of the two 
pairs of stigmatic plates. The next two processes are incorporated in the single _ 
abdominal plate on each side. The remaining four processes are reduced (by 
confluence) to two, and form part of the anal plate. These plates—at first more 
or less distinct and separate—increase in size and become confluent during the 
growth of the insect. At the same time the dorsal area, which has become 
tumid and elevated, secretes a more or less uniform covering of wax with the 
original dorsal pad of the larva as its apical point. In C. cervzferws and some 
other species not represented in Ceylon the waxy covering is exceptionally 
thickened, and all trace of separate plates is obscured. In the adult insect 
there are always four well-defined stigmatic bands of pure white wax originating 
at the stigmatic clefts of the insect, and terminating usually at the depressed 
spots in the centre of each stigmatic plate. This material is probably porous, 
and permits the passage of air to the spiracles. 
The denuded insect (see Plate CIV. fig. 5) greatly resembles one of the 
hemispherical forms of Zecanzunz. The anal operculum must necessarily open 
on the surface, and is consequently placed on a densely chitinous process, 
which varies in prominence according to the thickness of the waxy covering. 
In its most exaggerated form (in cerdferus, Plate CII. figs. 3, 4) it appears as a 
cylindrical extension fully half the length of the actual body of the insect. The 
antenna—in all Ceylon forms—is composed of six joints, of which the third is 
very long. Signoret gives this as one of the generic characters, but there are 
several species—e.g., céistudiformis, egbarum, and vartegata—in which both 
seven and eight antennal joints are present. The typical long third joint is 
attained through the confluence of three normal joints. The legs are usually 
well developed, and are present in all known species, but are somewhat 
