A NEW COCCID PEST OF CACAO FROM TRINIDAD. 379 



slender spines, of which there are from 25 to 35 between the anterior and posterior 

 stigmatic areas. Stigmatic clefts shallow, scarcely perceptible in old adults, but 

 more clearly defined in the early adult insect. Stigmatic spines 3, only slightly 

 differentiated from those of the marginal fringe (fig. 3, c). Length of mature female 

 (under compression) 3 '50 to 4 '50 mm. Breadth 2 '50 to 3 "0 mm. 

 Other stages not observed. 



On pods of Theobroma cacao ; Trinidad, W.I. Collected by Mr. F. W. Urich 

 (Entomologist to the Board of Agriculture, Trinidad) who reports that the insects 

 were " enclosed in a carton tent, and were attended by the ant, Azteca chartifex.''^ 



Cockerell erected the genus Philephedra to contain a species from New Mexico that 

 was originally described as Pulvinaria ephedrae. He considers the genus to be more 

 nearly related to Lichtensia than to Pulvinaria, but he has apparently nowhere 

 precisely defined its characters. Those given in his " Table for the Determination 

 of the Genera of Coccidae " (Can. Entom., Nov. 1899, p. 331), viz : — " Body of female 

 soft, not chitinous, pink in front, greenish on dorsum, with some black specks ; back 

 with patches of white " can scarcely be regarded as of more than specific value. 



I have had no opportunity of examining specimens of Philephedra ephedrae ; but, 

 relying upon Cockerell's description (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (7) ii, July 1898, p. 24), 

 I feel confident that the Trinidad insect is closely aUied to that species. It may indeed 

 eventually prove to be identical. The difierences are principally in the antennal 

 formula, and in the absence of longitudinal bands of white secretion on the dorsum. 

 I have no record of the colour of the living insect of Ph. theobromae. 



(C22i; 



e2 



