This important insect which secretes an exquisite carmine lake, is the veriest pigmy of its group, being no more than the one thirty-sixth of an inch in length when full grown ; but it appears in vast numbers upon the trees in the province of Bengal, as also in Siam, Assam, Malabar, etc.

, and is thence exported to all parts of the world.

The body of the dried female is red, with very hairy six-jointed antenna?, four eyes, and no ocelli.

The legs remain quite dis- tinct, are stout and hairy, with the tibiaa one-third longer than the thighs.

To avoid contact with the resinous secretion caused by its puncture the insect is enclosed in a kind of woody gall, of form varying with the age and sex.