224 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
noticeable on the under side. But so many insects belonging to this 
division bear the same resemblance that the name might, with all 
appropriateness, be applied to any of them. The covering scale of this 
species is much flatter than that of the preceding, and is almost circular. ' 
It is of a smooth texture, with a dark, almost black, centre, and a broad 
greyish margin. It is, however, given to much variation in colour, and 
sometimes the scale is almost covered beneath the epidermal layer of the 
plant. This latter character is particularly noticeable when the insect 
infests the branches of Peach trees. 
The adult female is very short, ovate, and of a yellow or ochreous- 
yellow colour. 
The males appear at the end of April and the beginning of May. They 
are of a bright yellow^ colour with a black band stretching across the thorax 
from the base of the wangs. 
Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, Apples, and Pears are usually attacked, 
but the species is also found upon the Currant and the common Heath. 
It does not, however, appear generally common, but, like other coccids, is 
usually very abundant where it occurs. The illustration (fig. 95) is 
from a photograph of a Plum branch, which, it will be seen, is completely 
covered with the " scale," forming an almost continuous scurfy layer. 
The specimen was cut from a wall-tree, which was so badly infested it 
was deemed advisable to burn it. As the species increases but slowly, I 
have little hesitation in saying it must have occupied the tree unmolested 
for many years. 
Aspidiotus zonatus, L., which infests the Oak in this country and 
throughout Europe, is so very closely allied to A. ostremformis that it is 
only by the highest power of the microscope the separation is possible, 
the salient characters lying chiefly in the number of knobbed hairs on the 
antennae of the males. 
British Aspidiotus 
[Aspidiotus hritannicus, Newstead). 
This is a comparatively new insect, being for the first time described 
in 1896. It was first found by Mr. R. McLachlan, at Teddington, near 
London, w^iere it had completely infested a holly fence. The leaves 
submitted to me were almost covered with scale. The insect seems'partial 
to the leaves, but it also infests the wood, and in many instances :had 
attacked the berries. 
The colour of the covering scale is reddish-yellow in the younger 
examples, but the old specimens lose their bright tints and become more 
or less smoky brown. 
The female is of a translucent yellow, and has the segmentation of the 
abdomen rather distinct, which latter character can only be seen under a 
good lens or a microscope. 
When first described I thought the species might possibly prove 
peculiar to the British Isles, hence its specific name ; but no such luck. 
And, I now learn from Prof. Cockerell, it has been recently discovered in 
the United States of America. Since receiving it from Teddington I 
have also received it from Mr. Nicholson, Curator of the Royal Gardens 
