1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/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 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).