190 Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
63. Margarodes trimeni Giard. 
(Plate XXVIII., Fig. 70.) 
Margarodes trimeni Giard, C. E. Biol. Paris, iv., pp. 126, 412, 712, 1894. 
Cyst : Shell-like, more or less irregular in outline, but narrowed at one 
end. Usually the cysts are more or less triangular when seen in profile, 
with the base broadly rounded and the apex bluntly pointed. The surface 
generally exhibits a few rounded protuberances of irregular disposition. 
The flakes " appear to be imbricated from the wide end, where the 
adult emerges. 
Size : Largest specimens 5-5 mm. long and 4 mm. at greatest width. 
Colour : Brassy yellow to bronze. 
The empty cysts of this species are collected by children and threaded 
to make necklaces. 
Adult 2 : In appearance this insect greatly resembles M. capensis, but 
is of slightly smaller size. The largest specimens when mounted range 
from 4-5 to 5*2 mm. in length. The chief differences between trimeni and 
ca^ensis are : — 
(a) The entirely distinctive cysts. 
(b) The antennae of trimeni are 7- or 8-jointed, the small joint II. 
being absent in two out of four specimens mounted. 
(c) The front claws of trimeni are more slender at the base than those 
of capensis. 
(d) The dermal hairs of trimeni are shorter and much stouter than 
those of cajpensis, and the derm is coarsely rugose instead of shagreened. 
(e) cai^ensis is only known from vine roots ; trimeni from other plants. 
Habitat : The cysts of this species (" ground pearls ") were found in 
numbers in, or near, termite nests in the south-west of the Cape Province. 
The real host-plants are not known. Some of the dry cysts, from which 
the insects had not emerged (collected in 1898), were placed in a moist 
cell in December, 1914, and still produced the strong soapy Margarodes 
odour. 
Material studied consists of a number of cysts and $ ? (spirit 
material), and 5 $ $ mounted. 
Collection No. : 8. 
