SCALE

See also:

• INSECT

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 organ. 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 hindwings; their antennae and legs are longer than in the other sex, but the mouth-parts are reduced and functionless (See ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY) .