LecaniincF. 173 



narrow neck. The caudal extremity often bears a pair of con- 

 spicuous waxy filaments. 



The number of stages, separated by the casting of the skin, is 

 believed to be three in the female ; but as the process of moulting 

 in this family is very obscure, the point requires confirmation. I 

 have myself observed the shedding of the skin in the genus 

 Lecanium. The exuvium is very thin and delicate, becoming 

 twisted up into a minute formless shred as it is pushed off the 

 body. The old skin may sometimes be seen still adhering to the 

 posterior extremity of a recently transformed female Lecanium. 

 It is difficult to understand how such genera as Ceroplastes or 

 Vinsonia, in which the waxy test is closely adherent to the body 

 of the insect throughout life, can get rid of their exuvia. It is 

 possible that the cast skins may become incorporated into the 

 waxy test. The fact that in Ceroplastes the pad of opaque wax 

 that covers the dorsum of the larva may always be recognised as a 

 central spot on the test of the adult, and that the pointed lateral 

 processes of the larval test can be distinguished at intervals on 

 the submarginal area of the fully formed test lends colour to this 

 theory of incorporation. 



While in the female only two changes of skin are known, in 

 the male there are certainly three moults before the emergence of 

 the winged adult. The first of these takes place before the forma- 

 tion of the puparium. The second signifies the transformation to 

 the pupal stage. The third reveals the imago. The two last 

 exuvia are thrust out from beneath the posterior extremity of the 

 puparium. 



Union of the sexes takes place immediately after the shedding 

 of the second skin in the female while the insect is still quite 

 small. After impregnation the female usually increases very 

 greatly in size until — when ready to deposit eggs — it may be 

 many times the bulk of the sexually mature insect. A want of 

 appreciation of this fact has led some authors to mistake the early 

 adult female for the nymph (or female of second stage), and to 

 describe it as such. 



The family includes several well-marked genera, e.g., Lecanium, 

 Pulvinaria, Ceroplastes, Vinso?tia, Inglisia, &c. ; but it also contains 

 numerous other genera that lend themselves with difficulty to any 

 clear synopsis, and some that are doubtfully separable from their 

 allied genera. The presence or absence of test, and the nature of 

 that test when present, are usually taken as synoptical characters ; 



