year was extraordinarily mild and dry. This disappearance of theirs was, indeed, so sudden that, whereas in July, when procuring specimens of male pupæ for hatching, I could have carried away untold thousands, in August I could scarcely find any, and had to hunt over a good deal of ground to procure a dozen infected leaves of Melicytus. I cannot offer an explanation of this peculiar invasion and departure. A similar circumstance, but in a much less pronounced way, was noticed by me in 1879 in the case of Lecanium hesperdum (see “Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. xii., p. 292): that insect, in a dry season, had become considerably lessened in numbers; but its appearance and disappearance were not by any means as peculiarly rapid as those of C. dysoxyli in 1889. The second and much more curious fact in connection with the insect is the emergence of a number of apterous males. I had not the male of the species before this year, but, finding the male puparia on Melicytus so numerous, I collected many, with a view to procuring the adult. The result was that I was able to hatch them out as follows: In February, four; in March, eleven; in May, eight; in June, sixteen; in July, eleven; and in August, two. I was particular in taking note of the numbers at the time I procured them, because the occurrence of an apterous male at once arrested my attention; and for the same reason I am particular in recording them now. I know of no similar instance amongst Coccids of any group: no observer has, I believe, recorded the existence of an apterous male, unless the extraordinary statements of M. Moniez (“Comptes Rendus de l'Acad. des Sci.,” February, 1887), regarding males of L. hesperidum existing within the abdomen of the females can be accepted as positive. All male Coccids have hitherto been considered as having two wings: there is a case reported by Dr. Signoret (“Essai,” p. 320) of Gossyparia ulmi, where the male has “rudimentary elytra,” but Signoret himself doubts whether the insects he saw were really adult.* In the August, 1889, number of Professor Riley's excellent publication, “Insect Life,” which has just reached me, Mr. L. O. Howard gives a very full description of Gossyparia ulmi, which seems to have lately invaded European elms in America; and he figures both the male with rudimentary wings mentioned by Signoret, and the fully-winged male which also emerges from the cocoons. It seems, therefore, that G. ulmi and C. dysoxyli are two insects with abnormal males; the difference being that in G. ulmi males with rudimentary wings emerge only “a few days,” according to Mr. Howard, before the fully-winged forms, while in C. dysoxyli males entirely wingless emerge for several months before the winged form appears. While this paper is in the press I have received a note from Mr. Newstead, of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, England, stating that he has bred both apterous and winged males of Chionaspis fraxini. Perhaps, now that attention is directed to the point, other observers may note similar occurrences.