8 



new species found by Dr. Stracban at the Island of Grand Turk, the wax is so abundant that that front, 

 the several scales runs together, covering the scales and surrounding the twig on which they grow, 

 almost as the wax of a candle surrounds the wick. 



(7.) Vinsonia, Signoret. There is only one species, which is something like a small Ceroj^/as^es, 

 but round the margin are seven waxy rays, making the insect look like a little star. They are fairly 

 common on mango leaves in Jamaica, and are also found on orchids. 



(8.) Pulvinaria, Targioni-Tozzetti. These, when immature, are just like the flat oval Lecaniums, 

 but the adult female produces a large cottony sac, in which she lays her eggs. As this sac is produced, 

 she shrivels up, so as to appear like a little dark scale at one end of it. The white cottony ovisacs are 

 very conspicuous ; those of P. cupanice must often have been observed on the leaves of Akee trees in 

 Kingston. 



Aberrant genera. 



(9.) Orthezia, Bosc. These are curious looking creatures, the females small, broadly oval, with 

 eight-jointed antennae and well-developed legs. They are more or less ornamented with a waxy cover- 

 ing, and produce long white ovisacs which project posteriorly. They have a sort of superficial resem- 

 blance to little spiders. There is a species, C. insirjnis, found on low plants in gardens in Jamaica, 

 particularly on violets and chrysanthemums. This genus is placed by Maskell in the same sub- 

 division as Daclijlopius. 



(10.) Taehardia, Signoret. This consists of the lac insects, which cover themselves with a hard 

 coating of lac, strong but brittle, melting at a moderately higU temperature. There is a species in Jamaica, 

 infesting the coco plum, and appearing as subglobular lumps rather smaller than a pea, with a crimson 

 knob on the back. Maskell, in a paper published 1891, refers this genus to the group Brachyscelidce. 

 The genus is usually called Cartcria but the name was altered on account of preoccupation. 



(11.) PlancJionia, Signoret. Small scales, hardly bigger than the head of a pin, nearly circular 

 and slightly convex. They look like members of the next sub-family, but with a lens it is easily seen 

 that they have a delicate waxy fringe all round the margin, which distinguishes them. P. piistulans is 

 common on twigs of Akee in Kingston, producing a pustular appearance ; P. oncidii is very similar, but 

 bright yellow in colour, it is found on orchids, and was discovered by Dr. Henderson. 



(12.) Asterolecanium,, Targioni-Tozzetti. These are very much like Planchonia, and have the 

 fringe, but from their more elongated shape they might be taken, on hasty examination, for species of 

 Lecanium. Of course they are really very different from any Lecanium, being enclosed in a true scale, 

 and having a very different structure in man}' ways There is a species, A. banihusce, found on bamboo 

 stems at Moneague ; and also a very small and narrow species, A. palmce, found on leaves of cocoanut 

 palm sent by Dr. Sinclair from near Montego Bay. 



(IV.) Diaspince. 



These are the true scale- insects, having a scale distinct from the insect itself. They are all small, 

 on the average about the size of a pin's head, and are found abundantly on a great variety of plants. 

 The scales may be any shape from circular to linear, and flat to hemispherical, and any colour from 

 white to reddish, brown, or black. They have this peculiarity, that the exuviae of the younger stages 

 are retained on the back of the scale. The female scales show the minute shield-shaped transversely 

 ribbed " first skin," and this is situated either in the middle or to one side of a larger second skin, be- 

 low which is the larger scale proper. In the species of Diaspis, which have white scales, these first and 

 second skins stand out prominently as a dark spot. In the subgenus Targionia of Aspidiotus, the exuviae 

 are covered by secretion, so that only a nipple-like prominence is left. The male scales show only the 

 first skin and the scale proper : they are, in several of the genera, totally unlike those of the female in 

 form. Thus, in Diaspis the female scale is oval or rounded ; that of the male cylindrical with parallel 

 sides, and much smaller. 



(13.) Aspidiotus, Bouche. Yery numerous in species. The female scales are circular or slightly 

 oval, flat or convex ; the male scales are either like them, but smaller, or (as in the case of a species 

 found on orchids) narrow and elongated. When the male scales are elongated, they are not cylindrical, 

 white, with terminal exuviae, like Diaspis. Aspidiotus proper has the female scales white or whitish, 

 and the exuviae uncovered. The subgenus Targionia Signoret (I here use the name in a wider sense 

 than was originally intended) contains species with covered exuviae, and the scales generally dark- 

 coloured. 



(14..) Diaspis, Qo^ia. The female scales are white, with the exuviae conspicuous from their darker 

 colour ; the male scales are small, cylindrical, with terminal exuviae, and a single median keel. A 

 species of this genus, D. lanatus, is very destructive to Capsicum plants in Kingston. 



(15.) Aulacaspis, Cockerell. Female scale nearly circular in outline, waxy-white or pale greyish ; 

 male scale like that of Diaspis, but with three strong keels. A. roace is found on roses; A. boisduvalii 

 on cocoanut palm. 



(16.) PaWa^orw, Signoret. The female scale is brownish, nearly circular, or elongate-oval, with 

 the exuviee to one side, and the second skin quite large. The male scale is small, elongate, dark in 

 colour, with parallel sides and the exuviae at one end. A species is common in Kingston on leaves of 

 croton. 



(17.) Pseudoparlatoria, Cockerell. The only West Indian species is found commonly in Kingston 

 usually on Acalypha. The female scales, which infest the twigs, are blackish, and resemble those of 

 Aspidiotus. The male scales, found more usually along the midribs of the leaves, resemble the female 

 scales of Parlatoria and are pale in colour. 



(18.) Mytilaspis, Signopet. The female scales, as the name indicates, are mussel-shaped, usually 

 brown in colour. The male scales are similar but smaller and narrower. A species of this genus, if. 

 ^itricola, may very often be observed on oranges. 



