— 145 — 



Toward the middle of July, they leave this abode and settle on twigs 

 in groups of more or less and live on the juice of the tree. At this time 

 the body which was flattened in the early stage becomes somewhat thicker 

 on the back. 



As soon as the male larvae hatch out, they begin to remove to the under 

 surface of leaves, where they live in clusters and feed on the juice insert- 

 ing their mouths into the laminae, and two or three days afterwards, 

 they begun to secrete a white waxy substance in small quantities. After 

 living ten days on the back of leaves they begin to moult and remove 

 to twigs in clusters. They continue to secrete a white thread-like wax 

 which will totally cover the whole body after about 10 days. The secre- 

 tion goes steadily and increase the white coating to a thickness of 6 to 7 

 mm. The larvae under the white wax coating, continue to grow during 

 the interval and become gradually thick ; they hang down on the twigs with 

 their heads attached to them while the antennae and legs generally 

 deteriorate. Toward the middle of September, the male larvae undergo 

 metamorphosis and became pupae which in turn change into imago after 

 4 or 5 days. The winged insects fly away to a distance of about 50 ft. in 

 search of female coccids for copulation. 



The female larvae which undergo gradual development turn into 

 perfect balls towards the end of March, attaining a length of 6-8 mm. 

 They are greenish brown in color with black spots. About this time, the 

 insect secretes honey from the body, to which ants (Pristomyrmex 

 ■ japonicus Forel and Cremastogaster sordidula var. osakensis Forel) crowd. 

 The matured female imago is reddish brown in color and carries eggs 

 under the body to the number of 5,000. 



IV. Host Plants 



In China, the wax insect is raised principally on Ligustrum, lucidum 

 and Fraxinus chinensis, but Ligustrum glabrum and Fraxinus hungeana 

 can be used to some extent of host plants for the insect. In this country, 

 Ligustrum Ibota, Ligustrum Japonicum, Ligustrum medium, Fraxinus 

 bungeana var. pubinervis, Fraxinus longicuspis, and Chionanthus retusus 

 are known as host plants. In order to study the life history of the insect, 

 the mother coccid was raised on Fraxinus exelsior of european origin and 



