BUGS. 235 



inhabit the wooded parts of the country. Several species also inhabit the United 

 States ; but most of these are small and inconspicuous forms. 



A strictly American type, of agreeable green color and great activity, confronts us 

 in this group, and is one which has a wide distribution in North America. It belongs 

 to the genus Amphiscepa, of which ^4. bivittata is the best known species. When 

 living the color is a vivid grass green, with a vertical, sharp-edged, more or less brown 

 face ; the prothorax is flat and has two darker brown stripes, which unite behind and 

 pass along the tipper margin of the wing-covers. Strong veins commence to fork near 

 the base of the latter, and are connected by clearly-defined branching cross-veins, which 

 increase in number towards the tip. These wing-covers are also very broad, are held 

 nearly vertical, and are almost cut square off at tip. The hind-shanks are long, 

 slender, and armed with a pair of short teeth on each siae. 



Individuals of this species are occasionally met with in Florida which have the 

 head, thorax, and base of the wing-covers changed to a decidedly rosy tint ; and still 

 more rarely specimens occur which entirely lack the darker markings of the head, 

 thorax, and wing-covers. This species is distributed from Canada to Florida, and 

 from Minnesota to Matamoras, Mexico. In late summer it may be often seen resting 

 upon a stalk of grass or branch of a blackberry bush, keeping a sharp lookout, so that 

 when suddenly approached it gives a rapid leap which carries it several feet away into 

 a place of excellent concealment, in the midst of tangled grass or inextricable twigs 

 and branches. 



Closely allied to the foregoing group is a very small sub-family, Ettrybrachidida, 

 the species of which were formerly included in the same division as Issus. Only one 

 genus, JKitrybrachis, is at present here included. The species are generally about one- 

 half of an inch in length, of very robust proportions, with exceedingly blunt and Avide 

 face, short vertex, with expanded wing-covers curved on the sides, and veins much 

 branched at tip. They also have the fore and middle thighs and shanks expanded 

 into plates, and inhabit the lowlands of the East Indies, Australia, and the Philippine 

 Islands. They are generally of an orange ground-color, marked with green reticulated 

 bands on the wing-covers, and the legs are red. 



The great and well-marked sub-family, Ricaniida, has no known representative in 

 the United States. The species are all tropical or sub-tropical, inhabit the moist parts 

 of the hot regions, and are more numerous in the East Indies and adjacent islands than 

 elsewhere. At least one large and beautiful form has been found in southern Japan ; 

 and a rich brown species occurs in the Philippine Islands. They may be recognized by 

 the head being as wide as the thorax, with a broad, flat face, very short vertex sepa- 

 rated from the front by a transverse keel, and the mesothorax with three slightly raised 

 longitudinal lines. The wing-covers are held nearly vertical, are very large and trian- 

 gular, at tip almost as wide as long, with very numerous longitudinal veins accom- 

 panied by wrinkles. A conspicuous feature at their base is the large, scale-like tegular 

 pieces, which cap the hinge there. The first tarsal joint of the hind-feet is also very 

 short. 



Ricania fuscata is a very large species, measuring fully two inches across the 

 expanded wing-covers. It is generally of a smoke-brown or blackish color, although 

 some varieties are more or less marked witli yellow beneath and on the sides of the 

 abdomen, and are also banded with pale ochreous across the forehead. It inhabits 

 Borneo, Java, and the East Indies. 



Several smaller species occur in Luzon, Burmah, Malacca, and the adjacent coun- 



