166 Journal New York Entomological Society. [voi. vi. 
Icerya purchasi var. maskelli Ckll . 
On trunks of several orange trees at Aranjuez, six miles from Guay- 
mas, Sonora, Sept. 23, 1894 (Townsend).* This is the form that I took 
at Guaymas, and which has been published as purchasi. The specimens 
are noticeable for their small size and short subconic ovisacs. 
The larval characters of purchasi (typical form) and var. maskelli do 
not differ appreciably except in the antennae of first stage, and this dif¬ 
ference is not apparently constant. Mounts were made of larvae oipur¬ 
chasi (typ. form) from California and Magdalena, Sonora; and of var. 
maskelli from California and Guaymas, Sonora. The two mounts from 
California and that from Magdalena show the antennae of first larval 
stage practically the same; i. e., the last joint is irregular in outline, and 
the penultimate, as well as last joint, bears one or two of the very long 
hairs. The Guaymas mount, being from the present specimens, shows 
the last antennal joint of first larval stage almost uniformly to be rather 
swollen and regular in outline, well constricted at base, rather soda-bot¬ 
tle shaped, and with none of the long hairs on penultimate joint. But 
some specimens occurred exhibiting a tendency toward the other form, 
so that the character can hardly be called distinctive. 
The difference between the typical purchasi and var. maskelli were 
pointed out by Cockerell in Psyche, July, 1897, under the heading 
“ note on two forms of the fluted scale.” These forms were recognized 
by Craw some seven years ago as differing from each other, and have 
ever since been noticed by him to retain their distinctive features. The 
finding of the present specimens, which seem to be an exaggerated 
maskelli form, near Guaymas, Sonora, suggested the possibility that 
maskelli might represent an endemic American form, not in any way 
connected with the Australian purchasi . This supposition fell after 
making an extended examination of the larvae, which could not be satis¬ 
factorily separated (at least the Californian specimens could not), so 
that the two forms could hardly be natives of two widely separated 
countries. It is still possible, however, that the present specimens from 
Guaymas may represent an endemic form related to purchasi , and thus 
a new species, but I do not consider it probable. 
The statement of Cockerell (Psyche, 1 . c.) that maskelli is purchasi 
in the strict sense, and agrees very nearly with Maskell’s description, 
*These specimens were in all ^probability what I collected near Guaymas, but 
unfortunately they were sent out from the Department without label. I can state 
positively that I collected exactly similar specimens, so far as external appearance goes 
at the locality given.—C. H. T. T. 
