490 ON THE GENUS HYMENOTES. 



ces we find this shield consisting of a single piece, being then 

 named the scutellum, and which in some tribes of Hemiptera 

 becomes so large as entirely to cover the back of the abdo- 

 men, wings, and wing-covers. Such is the case in a singular 

 degree in the genus Coptosoma, the peculiar structure of 

 which I have described in this Magazine (vol. ii. n. s. p. 26). 

 Such is also the case in other portions of the family of Cimi- 

 cidce thence named Scutelleridm, and in some singular Hy- 

 menopterous insects forming the genus Thoracantha, in one 

 of which (Thor. Latreillei, Guerin) this scutellum exhibits 

 all the appearance of two elytra soldered together. In other 

 tribes, again, we find this shield composed of a piece still 

 nearer to the head, namely the dorsum of the prothorax, 

 which is immensely developed backwards, covering not only 

 the back of the abdomen i, but also the whole of the mesotho- 

 rax and its scutellum, metathorax, and wings. This struc- 

 ture is of much rarer occurrence than either of the former, 

 occurring in various species of Linnaean Cicada, where the 

 armature of this part is most anomalous, and in a few genera 

 of Orthopterous insects, including that which is the subject 

 of this paper: this peculiarity, in conjunction with the salta- 

 torial powers of the insects, their musical talents and herbi- 

 vorous habits, evidently prove that the order Homoptera of 

 Latreille (to which the Cicada belong) is the true analogue 

 of the order Orthoptera to which these insects are to be re- 

 ferred. 



Linnaeus, in the earlier editions of the c Systema Naturae,' 

 proposed a division in the genus Cicada which he named 

 Foliacea, with the character " thorace compresso-membrana- 

 ceo ; " the insects belonging to this division are truly Homop- 

 terous, and now constitute the genus Membracis of Fabricius. 

 The dorsum of the prothorax is of immense size, compressed, 

 not thicker than writing paper, and elevated over the entire 

 body, extending in fact considerably in front of the head. 



Felton described two remarkable insects in the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions for 1764 (vol. liv. p. 55, published in 1765), 

 in a paper entitled "An Account of a singular species of Wasp 

 and Locust" which he had met with in Jamaica. The fol- 

 lowing is his description of the "locust." 



" Rhombea Cicada, thorace compresso, membranaceo, foliaceo, sub- 

 rhombeo, postice latiore. 



*' The thorax is like a leaf that is raised perpendicularly from the body, 

 and is three times as broad as the body, but the same length. This leaf is 

 very near of a rhomboid figure, a little broader or rather higher over the 

 back, it is membranaceous, probably brownish ; (when alive half pellucid, 

 with two spots that are more pellucid or transparent ; the larger one is very 

 near the middle, but the smaller lower). The margins are waved, especial- 



