94 ROBERT NEWSTEAD — OBSERVATIONS ON 



Pulvinaria psidii, Maskell. 



On Alternanthera versicolor, Entebbe, Uganda, 1. VIII. 1910 (C. C. Govidey) ■ 

 and on Coffee, Mabira Forest, Uganda, 15. IX. 1910 (C. C. Gowdey). 



Judging by the number of females present upon the leaves submitted, this 

 insect must cause serious injury to the coffee plant. 



Ceroplastes ug-andas, sp. n. 



Test of old adult female.— Rem\B'^h.(iv'\C2k\, surface uneven and coarsely wrinkled, 

 due evidently to shrinkage ; not divided into " plates ;" lateral margin on each 

 side with a short and very broad arm-like extension which slightly overlaps the 

 branch, if a slender one, to which the insect is attached ; posterior portion may 

 be broadly bilobed and slightly recurved. Colour dull crimson with irregular 

 greyish ochreous areas, the latter being probably due to abrasions of the surface. 

 In the comparatively fresh examples, the wax yields to pressure and contains a 

 large percentage of moisture. In the very old examples, the test becomes brittle 

 and cellular. Length, 13-14 ; width, 11-12 ; height, 11-12 mm. 



Ftmale, adult. — Hemispherical, dorsum obconical, with a very distinct tubercle, 

 the apex of which is furnished with a minute sharp ridge : there is a similar ridge- 

 like tvibercle on either side of the rudimentary caudal process, and one also over 

 each of the posterior stigmatic clefts. Cephalic lobe, strongly produced in the 

 young adult female, much less so in old examples. Derm uniformly and strongly 

 chitinised ; piceous ; surface almost covered with rather widely separated 

 papilla ;* by transmitted light these papillae appear as small ovate glands 

 (fig. 8, b) in examples which have been macerated in potash. Stigmatic clefts 

 (fig. 8, a) rather shallow, and immediately above them is a large broadly ovate 



Fig. ^.-Ceroplastes ugaudw, Newst ; a, stigmatic cleft ; 6, dorsal pores ; c, parastigmatic glands ; 

 d, spine of the stigmatic cleft. 



group of circular pores (fig. 8, c). Spines (fig. 8, d) short, simple and not con- 

 fined to the margin. Diameter, 7-8 ; height, 6-7 mm. 

 On " Amakebe," Uganda (C. C. Gowdey). 



* These are absent in a parasitised female, and the derm is thin and much more highly 

 polished.— R. N. 



