GEORGETOWN. 133 



their expanse with two masses of black dots. These were 

 the males. The females were wingless and their bodies were 

 covered with a long dense cottony secretion. The eggs and 

 larvK which lined thousands of the twigs were also pro- 

 tected by this white material. One could hardly walk 

 without crushing these insects, so numerous were they. 

 The only birds we observed feeding on them were An is and 

 domestic fowls. 



The middle of April found these insects as abundant as 

 ever, still hatching in myriads, Init by the 22d of the rronth 

 the broods on the main streets seemed to be diminishing, 

 although the hordes infesting the trees at the entrance of the 

 Botanical Gardens vi'ere on the increase. Noticing that there 

 seemed to be interesting nodes of variation in the number 

 and patterns of the dots on the wings of the males, we set 

 a Coolie boy to gathering them for future study and he soon 

 had a thousand or more in a jar of alcohol. 



