288 
cal with Diaspis lanatus Morg. and CklL, first described in the Journal 
of the Institute of Jamaica. * 
In Jamaica, according to Mr. Oockerell and his successor, Mr. Town- 
send, the insect occurs upon Grape, Bastard Cedar ( Guazuma ulmi- 
folia) Cycas media, Capsicum, Argyreia speciosa, the bark and twigs of 
an undetermined malvaceous plant, Bryopliyllum calycinum, Peach, 
Pelargonium, Jasmin urn, stems of Cotton, Calotropis procera (French 
Cotton) and Hibiscus esculentus. In Trinidad it occurs upon Carica 
papaya, according to the observations of Mr. F. W. Urich. Acanthus, 
Peach, and Sedum are added by Mr. Town send in the last number of 
the Journal of the Institute of Jamaica (Vol. I, No. 8), and the Entomolo- 
gist found the species excessively abundant on several of the above- 
mentioned plants during his recent trip to the West Indies. Two of 
the oldest Cycads (Cycas circinalis) in the once celebrated but now much 
neglected botanical garden at St. Pierre, Martinique, were seriously 
affected, the bracts being white with the male scales and entirely killed. 
It was also bad on Zamia mexieana, upon which the director, M. Eugene 
Nolet, thinks it was introduced to the garden. 
In this country it was received in September, 1893, from Mr. S. F. 
Harvey, of Molino, Fla., and in October of the same year from Mrs. 
E. Johnson, of Bainbridge, Ga. The origin of the Washington speci- 
mens above referred to has not been ascertained, although every effort 
was made to learn the source from which they came. The rows of young 
trees were started by assistants in the Division of Vegetable Pathology, 
for the purpose of inoculation with Peach Yellows and other diseases 
of the Peach, which that Division was engaged in studying. The trees 
were raised from seed, and in consequence most careful search was 
* The question as to the j)roper authority for the name of the insect is an interest- 
ing one. Mr. Cockerell gave the species the manuscript name of Diaspis lanatus and 
drew up figures and descriptive notes He sent specimens to Mr. A. C. F. Morgan, a 
well known English writer on Coccidse, at present located at Oporto, Portugal, who, 
in his reply, sent Mr. Cockerell a full manuscript description of the species. Mr. 
Cockerell preferred this description to his own, and wrote to Mr. Morgan proposing 
that, as he was using the latter's description of the species, it should be credited to 
Morgan and Cockerell. Mr. Morgan replied that he preferred not to be cited as the 
authority unless he published the species in a paper of his own. However, Mr. 
Cockerell published Mr. Morgan's description in the Journal of the Institute of Jamaica, 
as above cited, heading it simply " Diaspis lanatus n. sp.," in an article treating of 
Coccidse of which he was himself the author, but stating that this description had 
been sent to him by Mr. Morgan. In the course of the description Mr. Cockerell 
inserted certain bracketed descriptive passages of his own, and in deference to Mr. 
Morgan's desire has since referred to the species in correspondence and in print 
as Diaspis lanatus Cockerell. Dr. David Sharp, in the Zoological Record for 1892, 
refers to the species as Diaspis lanatus Morgan, n. sp., probably overlooking the fact 
that the description contained bracketed passages of Mr. Cockerell's authorship. 
In the face of this curious complication, it seems best to consider the species as one 
of dual authorship —Diaspis lanatus Morgan & Cockerell. It may seem unnecessary 
to devote so much attention to a point of such small importance, but as a matter of 
fact the circumstances are almost unique in descriptive entomology. 
