Test of female waxy, with a single fringe of tooth-like, more or less broad, segments round the edge.
Test of male waxy or glassy, with similar fringe.
The edge of the body, in the second stage of the female, usually presents a wavy appearance, formed by a series of reentering curves. This is perhaps most conspicuous in Ct. perforatus.
The antennæ of the adult female have six or seven joints. It is often very difficult to determine the number, as the third joint exhibits frequently a shallow circular depression or ring which may easily be mistaken for a division.
During gestation the female, which at first fills the test, shrivels up at one end into a shapeless mass requiring maceration in potash to restore the original form for examination. The test thus becomes almost filled with eggs.
The presence of the fringe, which is noticeable in every species of this genus at some time or other, distinguishes it from Ceroplastes and Vinsonia. In Ctenochiton viridis the test is not to be made out in the adult stage but is clearly visible in the second stage of the female, and it is present, with the characteristic fringe, for the male.
31. Ctenochiton depressus, Maskell.
N.Z. Trans., Vol. XVI., 1883, p. 132.
([Plate VII.], Fig. 2.)