THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 329 



introduced us to each other. The young Coccus first treads 

 the stage of active life in the character of a minute hexapod 

 spider: it is of a reddish brown colour, and appears a spider 

 in all things except in the number of legs ; a spider ought to 

 possess eight. I do not doubt that in this state it is often 

 denominated the " red spider," and treated with nostrums 

 originally devised for the destruction of that mischievous 

 mite. The young Cocci, which Mr. Gratton and I examined, 

 were obtained from the seeds of the vi^hitethorn ; and I am 

 bound to confess that we allowed them to escape without 

 being able to supply a "missing link" in their biography, 

 which should have united their active spider-life to their 

 vegetative existence : we examined them as spiders again 

 and again ; we obtained minute scales from the same locali- 

 ties only a few days afterwards ; but we never found any 

 direct evidence that the one had been transformed into the 

 other. I feel very confident that the authorities correctly 

 assert that these spider-like creatures anchor themselves in 

 the rind of the twig by means of their sap-sucking rostrum; 

 but I never witnessed the operation. A very few days 

 elapsed between the escape of the insects from the eggs and 

 their reappearance as little scales or shells tightly fixed on 

 the rind of the twig, and, of course, perfectly immovable : 

 the rostrum is, doubtless, the instrument by which this 

 anchorage is effected. This rostrum, or piercing organ, 

 appears to come from the very centre of the stomach, but 

 the appearance is not real : the rostrum is, without doubt, 

 a portion of the head, like the mouth of all other insects ; 

 but the fore part of the head, and in consequence the mouth, 

 of the scale-insect, is bent under the breast imtil the mouth 

 is brought into the situation described : this arrangement can 

 only be observed by lifting up the scale-like creature and 

 laying it on its back. At first all these infant Cocci are 

 alike in size and shape : they look just like a parcel of tiny 

 tortoises fixed to the rind, and sometimes to the leaves. Like 

 most other insects the Cocci are males and females ; neither 

 in their spider-life nor in the first few days of their scale-life 

 have I been able to distinguish the sexes ; but after these 

 first few days there is an obvious difference in size; the 

 females grow rapidly, but the males do not change : they 

 arrive at their full stature very speedily, and a very small 



