29 



present date (November 10) the scales are not more than two-thirds the size that 

 they were last year, and not nearly so numerous, and drop easily from the twigs 

 upon which the black fungus has appeared. This is very likely due to the debility 

 of the tree, which will scarcely survive the winter. 



DESCRIPTION OF ADULT FEMALE. 



The adult female (fig. 9) is from 3 mm to 4 mm long by 2.6 mm in diameter, 

 and about 2 nmi high. It is slightly broadest posteriorly, hemispherical, 

 highly polished, and if not rubbed is seen to be covered with a very 

 delicate, transparent, and glossy or waxy excretion. There are appar- 

 ently twelve more or less distinct and radiating ridges each side, which 

 are most noticeable around the margin of the body and starting at 

 some distance from the disk of the scale, those of the thoracic segments 

 being generally more highly developed. The disk or medio-dorsal stripe 

 is smooth or but faintly rugose. The general color is of a lighter or 

 darker red, with a broader or narrower blackish subdorsal band sur- 

 rounding the disk composed of confluent spots, and a marginal row 

 of elongated squarish spots or bands between the ridges of the same 

 dark color, which frequently extend to the subdorsal band, which give 

 to them a peculiarly pretty appearance. Frequently they may be 

 entirely black, with the exception of the median stripe, or they may 

 be entirely red, with but faint traces of darker shadings or markings, 

 while in dry specimens all the markings disappear entirely. 



After boiling them in potash they become almost colorless or of a 

 pale brownish yellow, while the fluid turns to a pale purplish color. 

 The anal plates and a broad margin around the anal opening are darker 

 and of a yellowish-brown. 



Owing to the extreme transparency of the derm after boiling, the 

 pores become invisible, except a medio-dorsal row of irregularly ar- 

 ranged pores, reaching from near the end of the body to or beyond the 

 region of the median pair of legs. The marginal spines are rather 

 small and sparsely set, with three longer ones, of which the median one 

 is much the longest in the lateral angles of the thorax. The antennae 

 (see fig. 10) are six-jointed and about 0.20 of a millimeter in length, the 

 third joint being much the longest and about as long as the last three 

 joints combined; the second follows next in length, then the sixth and 

 first, while the fourth and fifth are shortest, subequal in length, and 

 together somewhat shorter than the sixth. All bear the usual com- 

 plement of hairs. The legs (see fig. 10) are rather long and slender 

 and about 0.32 of a millimeter in length and provided with the usual 

 hairs or bristles. The digitules of the tarsi are slender, finely knobbed, 

 and about three-fourths the length of the tarsi; those of the claw are 

 much shorter, curved upward, enlarged toward the end, and but 

 slightly longer than the claw. 



There is generally more or less variation in the length of both the 

 antenna and legs of specimens taken from the same twig, and even in 

 the same individual; sometimes, though rarely, there appears to be a 

 faint trace of a division of the third autennal joint. 



