coccim;. 
755 
In other species males are abundant, often far more so than the 
females. Eggs remain for a longer or shorter time before hatching. 
Fig. 529 —Inglisia bivalvata Female, x 5—Male 
Pupaeium x 15. (After Green .) 
In Lecanium viride, they hatch at once ; in Lecanium hemisphcericum , 
they remain in the scale for several months and then hatching, 
development and reproduction goes on rapidly for several generations. 
Other species probably have seasons of rest and activity but these 
are not known. 
The food of Coccidce is the sap of plants, extracted from the tissues 
by the long suctorial threads. In a few cases, the presence of the coccid 
is shown by a swelling of the plant tissues, as if an irritant had been 
injected by the insect and a gall formed. In the case of Dactylopius 
nipce on Cotton and Mulberry, the shoots are twisted and deformed, 
forming knots and loops in which the insects live. A subject deserving 
of investigation is the relation of the plant and its parasitic scale insect. 
There is much circumstantial evidence for the belief that strong and 
injurious plants are less attacked and more rarely infested than othe . 
The precise means by which the plant effects this is unknown. 
Coccidce are the prey of a very large number of insects. The most 
noticeable are the Coccinellid beetles and larvae, many of which feed 
exclusively upon Coccidce. Lace wing flies (Hemerobiidce) also attack 
Coccidce- ; the larva of a small acalyptrate fly feeds upon the masses 
of eggs laid by mealy bugs. The larvae of Spalgis epius (Lycaenidae), 
as of Eublemma (Noctuidae) and of several Tineidce feed upon mealy 
bugs and scale insects. Parasites are abundant, principally Chaicidce. 
In addition, fungoid diseases are very prevalent in damp places and an 
