176 Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
inches {maximus). Insects at maturity stationary, fixed to stems of food- 
plants by secretion from tenent hairs on venter. 
Eggs deposited in a marsupium formed by invagination of portion 
of venter. (N.B. — The marsupium in the Austrahan genus Calipappus 
is formed by the intussusception of the terminal abdominal segments.) 
Ventral orifice closed by a secretionary flap. 
Antennae of 10 segments. 
S". With two caudal appendages of medium length (in A. maximus- 
the caudal appendages are one-fifth as long as the body). <^ with 
compound eyes. 
This genus, so far as is known, contains seven described species which 
are confined entirely to the African continent. Five of these, viz. 
A. armatus, maximus, mirabilis, pertinax, and tricornis, are known to 
occur in the Union of South Africa or Ehodesia. 
N.B. — In his paper " On a new Scale Insect from Zomba, B.C. A.," in the Proceedings- 
of the Zoological Society of London, pp. 947-948, 1900, Professor Newstead describes and 
figures an insect which he names Walkeriana pertinax n. sp. Certain characters, such as 
the secretionary flap which covers the ventral opening, are given specific rank, but only 
provisionally so, as it was at first intended to make pertinax the type of a new genus with- 
the name Aspidoproctus. 
In the Entomologist, vol. xxxiv., p. 227, 3901, Professor Cockerell created a new 
genus, Lophococcus, from an insect sent from Natal by Claude Fuller. This became 
L. mirabilis, the type species. The generic characters are given, " Lophococcus n.g. A 
genus of Monophlebine Coccidae, allied to MonopJilebus, which becomes fixed in the adult 
female state, with a strongly chitinous skin, and has a large erect spine in the middle of 
the back, this spine originating as an elevated fold of the skin. No ovisac. Type 
L. mirabilis.'" 
Since that date five other species have been described, four by Professor Newstead, 
viz. A. maximus and A. armatus in 1911, A. tricornis in 1912, and A. giganteus in 1914^ 
and one by M. P. Vayssiere, viz. A. vuilleti (Ann. des. Epiph.), 1913. 
There is no doubt that all seven species are con-generic, and that according to the 
Law of Priority by Art. 25 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature the name 
Aspidoproctus should be retained for the genus. All agree, apparently, in the following 
particulars : — 
a. They are typically Monophlebine in the early stages. 
b. At maturity the integument becomes dense, hard, horny, and brittle when dry. 
c. Adults attach themselves to stems of host-plants by secretion from the anterior 
median ventral surface. 
d. Eggs are produced in a large marsupium formed by the invagination of a portion 
of one of the ventral segments. 
e. The ventral orifice of the marsupium is closed by a secretionary flap. 
/. Large numbers of ova are produced in the marsupium ; from two to six thousand,, 
according to the size of the species (Plate XXIV., Fig. 50&). 
g. The larvae escape from the marsupium by the ventral surface shrinking away from 
the posterior margin of the covering flap. 
h. The larvae are all of the same type, with 5-jointed antennae, and all secrete long 
glassy, waxy filaments, which assist in distribution by wind (Plate XXIV., Figs. 51a, 51&). 
The section of A. maximus shown in Plate XXIV., Fig. 50b was made from a specimen 
which had been stored in 70 per cent, alcohol for six years. The marsupium in this case- 
