AFRICAN SCALE INSECTS (cOCCIDiE). 



101 



of Tropical Research, Liverpool University, I referred the species doubtfully to 

 the genus Antonina, and, at the time, gave it the provisional specific name 

 africana. A copy of my report was also forwarded to Mr. Draper, the Delta 

 Barrage Gardens, Cairo. Unfortunately the specific name was published {sine 

 descr.) by the respective authorities inadvertently, and until now I have been 

 unable to deal with the matter as the original material together with a number of 

 other Egyptian Coccids was accidentally destroyed. Now, thanks to Mr. 

 Willcocks, who has sent me a number of females in various stages, I have been 

 able to make more extended observations and furnish details regarding the struc- 

 tural characters of the insect. 



Female ovisac. — Very closely felted and almost wax-like in appearance. 

 Cream-bufii' or straw-coloured, becoming greyer after long exposure. Form short 

 ovate and very highly convex ; posterior half with a faint trace of a short median 

 ridge, but this is, in old examples, more or less broken up into a series of faint 

 tubercular projections ; on either side of the central ridge are a number of trans- 

 verse ridges, varying in intensity according to the age of the individual, but in all 

 cases they are interrupted centrally, and in old examples they are often repre- 

 sented merely by minute tubercular projections. Average length, 5 mm. ; width, 

 3.50 mm. 



Female, adult. — Very short ovate or sub-circular in outline, after maceration in 

 potash. Antenna) (fig. 13, a) of seven or eight segments ; sixth with one, eighth 



Fig. 13. — Lecaniodiaspis africana, Newst. ; a, antenna of female ; 6, leg of female ; Ji, curious 

 form of the trochanter, as seen in some individuals ; c, mentum ; d, spinneret. 



with three rather straight and obtusely pointed spines ; there is a slight 

 variation in the relative length of the individual segments and also asym- 

 metry. Legs (fig. 13, b) present but atrophied, length less than that of the 

 antenna3 ; claws with a distinct ventral tooth. The whole of the dorsal surface 

 of the derm is thickly and evenly studded with 8-shaped glands, all of uniform 

 size and structure, but they are generally tilted so that the double orifice, which 

 gives them the characteristic 8-shaped appearance, is rendered invisible. Anal 

 segment with a rather shallow cleft which is closed ventrally, as in other members 

 of the genus, with a large bilobed plate, each lobe being approximately triangular 

 in outline, bearing a short stout spine at the apex and two or more near the base. 

 20il9 B 



