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JOUEVAL OF THE E<:>YAL HOETICULTURAL S'T^CIETY. 
These insects occur on a number of plants — the Oak, Elm, Hawthorn, 
Gorse. and Laburnum. The species inhabiting these plants are 
separated by such sKght characters that I fear thev will not stand. 
Thus the species infesting Gorse and Laburnum appear identical, and 
the description which follows applies to both. In winter the young females 
may be found in a torpid condition in the sheltered nooks among the small 
branches of the Laburnum, while the pup?p of the males are comfortably 
wi-apped in their white cottony sacs in the nooks and crannies of the tree- 
trunk. Early in March, after a " spell of warm days, the females descend 
from the branches to the tree trunk, where they await the emergence of 
their partners. After copulation the females return to their original 
home among the branches, where they spend the rest of their lives. 
Like the true mealy bugs they are active up to the time of egg-la^*ing. 
Fig. 110. — Labubnum axd Gorse Meai.y Bug 
(Pseudococcus idicis) on Gorse mat. size). 
The female then constructs a long closely felted ovisac, in which she 
completely envelops herself. When the whole structure is completed it 
very closely resembles bird droppings, which may, in a certain measure, 
protect it against the internal parasites which so freely attack this species. 
Curiously enough, the isolated sacs, which are almost the perfection of 
mimicry, are less attacked than those which horde together in vast 
numbers round the thicker branches. This is very clearly shown in the 
photograph (fig. llOj, where the holes through which the parasites have 
escaped appear as black spots among the collective mass of ovisacs. 
I find the insect common on Laburnum m this district, and have 
met with it freely on Gorse in several places. The illustrations are from 
examples obtained in Norfolk (Ringstead Down). The species can 
scarcely be said to be injurious, but it is unsightly when it occurs in 
