43 
Menturn apparently triarticulate, the last joint beset with 8, the penultimate with 
2 short hairs. 
Femur decidedly longer than tibia, hut femur and trochanter decidedly shorter 
than tibia and tarsus. Trochanter with a long hair at its proximal end. Tibia with 
several bristles or spines, three on the outer side and three near the distal eDd on 
the inner aspect. Tarsus about as long as tibia, and with about four long bristles 
or spines. The tarsus rapidly narrows almost to a point, and on the end of it is a 
remarkably long, almost straight, claw. 
Rostral loop not quite reaching to level of insertion of middle legs. 
Anogenital ring with six large hairs. External to the insertion of the hairs is a 
ring of oval marks, about 18 in number. 
Posterior tubercles rounded and indistinct, each bearing a bristle, not so long as 
one of the bristles of anogenital ring. 
Habitat: Hempstead Harbor, Long Island. On roots of Spartina 
between tide-marks. 
This is the first Eipersia described from this side of the world. The 
species hitherto known are B. coryncphori Sign., B. pulreraria Newst., 
B. subterranea Newst., B.fraxini Xewst., and B. tamlinii Newst., from 
Europe; B. Icptosperma Mask., from Australia, and B. formicicola 
Mask., B. rumicis Mask., and B.fagi Mask., from New Zealand. 
Of all these species none bear any very close resemblance to the 
present one, except B. rumicis, which was found amongst roots of 
Rumex acetosella in New Zealand. B. rumicis may be distinguished 
from B. maritima by the color and by the relative lengths of some of 
the antennal joints. 
The idea of a maritime Coccid was a very old one, long thought to 
be exploded. Coccus zostcrce Fab. was described as living on Zostera 
in the Baltic. That this should be a Coccid is doubtless impossible, 
and either the habitat' wrong o** it is something else, possibly a spe- 
cies of Chiton. 
Much later Coccus halopliilus Hardy was imperfectly described from 
British specimens. It was found at the roots of Ligusticum, Khodiola 
and Statice, on rocks by the sea. Like our insect it is white, but it is 
not properly a maritime species. 
The first genuinely maritime Coccid was described in 1883 by Prof. 
Comstock. This, Chionaspis spartina?, was collected by Prof. W. 
Trelease on Spartina at Woods Holl, Mass. The plants were com- 
monly submerged at high tide nearly up to the insects, which were 
themselves drenched with the salt spray. 
In Bipersia maritima we have the most extreme case known, for the 
insects are entirely submerged at high tide. 
The conditions under which this species exists are so peculiar and of 
such great interest, that I have asked Mr. Nathan Banks, who discov- 
ered the insect, to append below a fall account of the facts as observed 
by him : 
u The interesting marine Coccid described above by Prof. Cockerell is 
found very abundantly in some localities on the shore near Sea Cliff. 
