Adult female filling the test, but shrivelling after gestation; colour brownish or grey. Antennæ of six joints, the third being the longest, and, as is commonly the case in the genus, often appearing like two. On the last joint a few long hairs. Foot normal; the upper digitules are fine hairs, the lower pair only a little broader. Anal ring and lobes normal.
In the second stage the usual wavy edge is conspicuous; the test is thin, glassy, with normal fringe. Antennæ and feet normal. The insect is somewhat thick, with yellowish colour.
Adult male yellowish-red in colour, about 1/25in. in length, exclusive of the wings. General form normal. Antennæ long, with ten joints, all long and equal, except the two first, which are very short: all the joints have several hairs. Legs normal, but the tibiæ are very long and slender, and only a little thickened at the tip; tarsi somewhat thick; digitules fine hairs. Abdominal spike long, and very slightly curved.
Habitat--On _Plagianthus_, _Cyathea_, &c.; Hawke's Bay.
This insect resembles, to the naked eye, somewhat nearly _Ctenochiton perforatus_, but the female differs in the absence of the curious perforations in the test of that species, and in the shorter and thicker antennæ, with also more long hairs on the last joint. The test of the male is also different.
32. Ctenochiton elæocarpi, Maskell. N.Z. Trans., Vol. XVII., 1884, p. 26. (Plate VII., Fig. 3.)
Test of adult female oval, nearly circular, black in colour, divided into hexagonal and pentagonal segments which are not conspicuous, and of which the median series forms a very slightly elevated ridge somewhat lighter in colour. The test is only slightly convex. The fringe is very long and conspicuous, the segments tooth-like. Diameter of test, exclusive of the fringe, reaches 1/6in.
Test of second stage of female white, waxy, not homogeneous, but built up of a number of loosely-aggregated tubuliform plates, somewhat resembling those of the genus _Orthezia_, Bosc. The fringe of this test is longer than in that of the adult, the teeth curling in different ways. Length of test and fringe, sometimes 1/8in.
The adult female fills the test, shrivelling at gestation. Colour black. Antennæ somewhat long, of seven joints; a few hairs on the last joint. Foot normal; upper digitules strong and thick, lower pair very broad. On the skin are a number of large oval spots which appear to be the orifices of spinneret tubes.