2o8 LecaniincE. 



distributed throughout the island. Common in European plant-houses. I 

 have examples from the West Indies and from Java. The species is reported 

 from many localities in the United States (Professor Cockerell and G. B. King), 

 from Mauritius (De Charmoy), and from Australia (Maskell and Froggatt). 



This is the insect described and figured by Newstead (Joe. cit.) as Lee. 

 perforatujii. He founds the distinction between it and iessellatinn of Signoret 

 upon the eight-jointed antennte, the presence of a median division in the dorsal 

 tessellation, and the pores (simulating perforations) on the margins of the 

 dorsal tesserae. Signoret certainly does not mention the latter, but it does not 

 follow that they were not present in his type. In Signoret's time descriptions 

 of Coccidee were not so minutely drawn up as they now are, and many incon- 

 spicuous characters were overlooked. As for the antennas, it seems possible 

 that Signoret may have missed the division between the third and fourth joints, 

 which is (as pointed out above) often very indistinct. The same may be said 

 of the median division of the dorsal plates. In old examples the plates of the 

 median area may become confluent, showing scarcely any divisions. Under 

 the circumstances, I do not consider that these discrepancies in the original 

 description, the other (and more remarkable) characters being identical, can 

 constitute more than a varietal difference. 



Signoret records his type from a palm which he calls Caryota tirsus. I 

 cannot find any such name in the Index Keweiisis, and suppose it to be an error 

 for Caryota iirens, the plant upon which the species most commonly occurs in 

 Ceylon. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE LXXII. 



LeCANIUM TESSELLATUM, var. PERFORATUM. 



Fig. I. Leaf of Caryo/a wr^'wj, with insects, nat. size. 



2. Posterior e.xtremity of larva, dorsal view. 



3. Foot of larva. 



4. Adult female, ventral view, x 10. 



5. „ pattern of dorsal tessellation, x 12. 



6. „ antenna, x 150. 



7- „ ano-genital aperture, from below, x 100. 



8. „ anal operculum, x 100. 



9- ,, stigmatic cleft and marginal hairs, x 1 50. 



10. A single dorsal plate, showing submarginal pores, x So. 



