&6 EOJ?ERT NBWSTEAb — OBSERVATIONS OM 



is removed from the branch ; it then bears a very striking resemblance to a 

 helmet in miniature ; whether this character is a constant one remains to be 

 seen, but as it is present in all of the examples before mcj I feel that it cannot 

 be due altogether to exigency of location upon the slender twigs. There are no 

 dentate spines in the stigmatic clefts as in C. floridcnsis and the integument is 

 uniformly chitinous in the old examples. 



Ceroplastes vinsonioides, sp. n. 



Ted. of old adult female. — Dusky crimson, or brownish with a faint tinge of 

 dusky crimson ; anterior margin sometimes paler (possibly pale crimson or pink 

 when fresh) ; form rather broader than long ; flattish above, with a central 

 nucleus ; sides slightly recurved and projecting, and radiating from them are 

 four short, thick, elevated arms, the anterior pair sometimes deeply concave 

 dorsally, and all of them may be tipped with white wax. 



Test of young adult fc mule. — Similar in colour to that of the older examples ; 

 Hat, with central area slightly raised and nucleated ; sides with four large and 

 two small arms, the posterior pair shortest and tipped with greyish wax. 

 Ventral surface (fig. 10, a) with a rather broad and conspicuously white line of 

 secretion (wax) extending from each of the four stigmatic clefts to the tips of 

 the radiating arms ; the anterior half of the short posterior arms are also 

 formed of pure white wax, but this rarely extends to the dorsal surface. 

 Length of old examples, 4-5 mm. ; width, 5-6 mm. ; height, 1-1-50 mm. 



Female, adult. — Cephalic region without a lobe-like extension ; caudal process 

 rudimentary ; stigmatic clefts (fig. 10, b) sharply defined but not very deep ; 

 spines large, couical, and somewhat irregular in size, arranged three deep in the 

 centre, suddenly merging into a double row and finally into a single one on 

 either side ; externally to these is a very large isolated and bluntly bidentate 

 spine (fig. 10, e) separated from the group by a little more than its own length ; 



Fig. lO.-Ceroplasles vinsonioides, Newst. ; a, young adult female, ventral view ; b, stigmatic 

 cleft, with spines ; c, bidentate spine ; d, e, glands. 



parastigmatic glands numerous, forming a compact group just within the spines. 

 Antennse of 6-7 segments. Legs rather long ; digitides very long, upper pair 

 strongly dilated ; claw minute. Mentum with several long slender spines. Apex 



