1843.] Note on the " Flata Limbata," S>c 899 



be pared off with a knife in thick scales or shavings, having very much 

 the appearance of true wax. The taste is sweet, and the scales may, 

 when fresh, be moulded into balls by the fingers. The reason why it 

 accumulates so much on the leaves is simply from their catching the 

 liquid drops which fall from the hundreds of larva clustering around 

 the stems above. 



This wax-like substance appears to be the excrement of the larva, 

 and as it falls from them it is caught and collected upon the surface 

 of the leaves, which at first appear to be only slightly sprinkled with 

 moisture, and have a shining appearance like that caused by certain 

 species of aphides. The liquid dropped is at first sticky to the touch, 

 and sweet in taste ; the leaves appearing to be thinly bedewed with 

 honey ; this gradually accumulates, and as it passes from a liquid to a 

 solid state, appears like a thick coating of wax upon the leaves, but as 

 it dries by exposure to the sun and atmosphere, it hardens into a snowy 

 white brittle substance, giving the tree the appearance of being white- 

 washed, or frosted over with white sugar, like the top of a Twelfth 

 Night cake. It then cracks and falls in pieces to the ground, where it 

 soon dissolves from rain and dews, and is lost. 



The larva cluster so thickly round the stems of the shrubs which 

 they frequent, as to give them the appearance of being loaded with 

 snow, and the moment the tree is shaken, they spring off with a sudden 

 jerk in all directions ; when in motion, they erect the caudal appendage 

 or cottony tail. 



Some of the mature insects remain on the trees even after the larva 

 are hatched, and I have taken many both in January and February ; 

 the green colour of the elytra had, however, given place to a faded 

 yellow tinge like a withered leaf, and the insects were in a semi-lethar- 

 gic state. 



The larva appears in December or beginning of January, and gra- 

 dually increases in size until the period of the rains, that is, until the 

 middle of June, when they change to the perfect insect, and no more 

 wax is deposited. This substance increases in quantity as the larva 

 increases in size, but as it readily dissolves in water, it disappears 

 entirely as soon as the rains have set in. The larva shews no rudi- 

 ments of wings until its last moult, in which stage Donovan has figured 

 the larva of F. nigricornis. 



