Scale Insect
SCALE INSECT, a name given to insects belonging to the family Coccidae of the homopterous division of the Hemiptera and deriving their name from the formation by the females of a waxy secretion which often hardens into a protective scale beneath which the insects live. Honey-dew, a sweet sticky substance is also secreted by some members of the family. The females are always wingless, but are provided with antennae, legs and well-developed mouth-parts. In some cases these organs are retained, in some they are lost in the encysted condition. The males, on the contrary, although sometimes wingless, are, as a rule, provided with a pair of large forewings and greatly reduced hind wings; their antennae and legs are longer than in the other sex, but the mouth-parts are reduced and functionless (see ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
