£4 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aran, 1, 18G9. 



A NEW INSECT PROM CEYLON. 



THIS new and very interesting kemipterous in- 

 sect, to which I have given the name of Tingis 

 hystricellus, was discovered in Ceylon and collected 

 from the Bringall plant by Mr. Staniforth Green, 

 a gentleman long resident in that island. 



All the species of the genus to which it belongs 

 are small, but the present species is exceedingly 

 minute ; the largest of the specimens I have yet 

 seen scarcely attaining to i of an inch in length. 

 When examined, however, in the microscope, it is 

 an elegant insect, and, properly mounted as an 

 opaque object, it makes a fine binocular slide for the 

 low powers. 



of the genus may therefore well be called " world- 

 wide." 



The character which at once distinguishes the 

 Tingis hystricellus from all other known species of 

 the genus, is the complete armature of spines, which 

 project from various parts of the head, thorax, and 

 elytra. Each of these spines, when examined by a 

 somewhat higher power, is found to have a sharp 

 point or seta, projecting as from the open end of an 

 investing sheath. 



The integument of the elytra, as well as that 

 composing the dorsal surface of the thorax, appears 

 like a thin membrane nearly as transparent as glass, 

 supported by a strong reticulation bearing the spines, 

 which radiate in every direction. The metathorax 



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Fig. 55. Tingis hystricellus, x 20. Ventral and dorsal aspect. 



Very little appears at present to be known with 

 respect to its habits and economy. Mr. S. Green 

 says :— 



"It is common here, and hundreds of examples 

 may be found upon a single plant. Those I now 

 enclose were dried between the. leaves of a book, 

 and afterwards exposed for a couple of hours to the 

 direct rays of a hot sun. All I can say of its habits is 

 that it sticks close to the under side of the Bringall 

 leaf, and there undergoes all its changes, from the 

 larval to the perfect state. The larva; are black." 



Tingis is a genus of Pabricus, described in the 

 " Systema Rhyngotorum" (p. 124). Various species 

 of Tingis are found nearly all over the world. In 

 the cabinet of the British Museum may be seen 

 specimens from England and Prance, some of them 

 nearly as small as the species -here figured; as well 

 as several from Africa, North America, and the 

 Philippine Islands. Other species are found in 

 Sweden, and in fact all over Europe. A large num- 

 ber inhabit South America, and four or five have 

 been taken in the island of Ceylon. The distribution 



extends far backwards, simulating, as it does in 

 many allied genera, a large pointed scutellum. The 

 pupa is exceedingly interesting, being of a dark 

 brown colom - , and covered with white spines : 

 those along the sides of the abdomen are compound 

 or branched, and each branch has a projecting seta. 

 These compound spines are not found on the imago. 



Some of the species in the cabinet of the British 

 Museum are very beautiful, not only in form, but in 

 colour. They all show a tendency to a reticulated 

 structure of the elytra; but the present species 

 differs from all of them in the quantity of spines 

 bristling over the dorsal surface. It is, in fact, a 

 little insect porcupine, and fully justifies the specific 

 name of hystricellus. 



I believe that mounted specimens of these insects 

 are, or will be shortly, to be procured of Mr. Baker, 

 in High Holborn. Por the opportunity of figuring 

 and naming this pretty species of Tingis, I have to 

 thank Mr. Curties, P.R.M.S., who has kindly placed 

 his specimens at my disposal. 



Kensington. II. C. Richter. 



