122 HEMIPTERA-HOMOPTERA. 
number of the so-called species have already been sunk by Stal and Butler as 
synonyms, and I have gone further than Stal has in one or two cases. No such series of 
the genus as that in our collection (numbering more than two hundred examples) has 
ever before been brought together, and it is evident from an examination of these that 
in many respects they are extremely variable insects, and that certain species which 
have been described on single or at most on two or three specimens will not stand. 
One of the chief characters that authors have made use of is derived from the number 
of coste or raised ribs on each side of the pronotum; I find, however, that though it 
certainly is a help in some cases, yet, as a rule, it is most misleading, for the third costa 
from the dorsal costa (counting the dorsal costa as the first) is certainly variable in form 
among specimens belonging to what is undoubtedly the same species, being sometimes 
almost entire, sometimes half-defined, and sometimes rudimentary ; the costal margin of 
the tegmina, moreover, is coloured like the pronotum and furnished with two or three 
coste, which project beyond the sides of the pronotum and lie close against it when the 
insect is at rest, and appear at first sight as if they belonged to it, and these have been 
counted in by certain writers in their descriptions. Species have also been formed on 
the deflexion or reflexion of the anterior or posterior extremities, which is a very 
misleading character. 
After a very careful examination of the series before me I feel that, with the excep- 
tion of a comparatively small percentage, they might all be arranged as forms of one 
species, although those at the opposite poles would appear entirely different, and a 
considerable amount of further material and study will be necessary before the synonymy 
of the species can be regarded as in any way settled. 
The larva of P. costata, of which there is a single specimen in our collection, from 
Atoyac in Vera Cruz, is almost 20 millim. long, pisciform, narrow, and elongate, of a 
greyish-testaceous colour, probably greenish in life, with the last segment of the 
abdomen very long (about 5 millim.), slender, and pointed, and with the process in 
front of the eyes (which are large) about 6 millim. in length, constricted at about 
2 millim. from the eyes, and from thence widened and flattened and subcuneiform at 
the apex; the legs are long and slender. 
1. Polyglypta costata. 
. Polyglypta costata, Burm. Handb. Ent. ii. 1, p. 1427. 
. Polyglypta bogotensis, Fairm. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. sér. 2, iv. p. 297. 
. Polyglypta nigriventris, Fairm. loc. cit. p. 297°. 
. Polyglypta straminea, Walk. List of Homopt. Ins. ii. p. 544‘. 
. Polyglypta pilosa, Fairm. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. sér, 2, iv. p. 296°. 
. Polyglypta viridimaculata, Fairm. loc. cit. p. 298°. 
. Polyglypta interrupta, Walk. List of Homopt. Ins. ii. p. 545 7. 
. Polyglypta strigata, Walk. List of Homopt. Ins., Suppl. p. 186 *. 
. Polygiypta reflexa, Butl. Cist. Ent. ii. p. 207, t. 8. fig. 2°. 
. Polyglypta godmani, Dist. Ent. Monthly Mag. xvi. p. 11°. 
Oy Oy Oy Ay OY OY +O +40 +40 40 
