Vol. XXviii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. ICX) 



'ana, 4 while, in 1869, Scudder described Steirodon quadratum* 

 from Guayaquil, Ecuador, which appears to us to be the form 

 of this species group found in Mexico, Central America and 

 northwestern South America. 



Linnaeus, in 1758, gave the name Gryllus (Tettigonia) 

 lanrifolius 6 to the insect figured by Sloane in his Natural His- 

 tory of Jamaica, 7 which is the most distinct member of this 

 species group. 



The distribution of these forms is most interesting and to a 

 measure suggestive of the relationship of certain faunas. The 

 eastern Brazilian species, marginella (Serville), ranges from at 

 least as far south as the State of Sao Paulo, north to Trinidad 

 and Surinam. The Central American form, quadrat a (Scud- 

 der), covers an area extending from central Mexico south to 

 western Ecuador and probably Peru ( Saussure as marginella), 

 while along the north coast of South America it apparently 

 extends eastward, as it occurs in Trinidad with marginella. 

 The Cuban couloniana is known only from that island and 

 Florida, while laurifolium is limited to Jamaica. The close 

 affinity of the Mexican and Cuban forms is additional evi- 

 dence of the Mexican influence in the Greater Antilles. 



The chief feature which distinguishes the species is the form 

 of the stridulating field of the tegmina of the male. This is 

 least extensive, with its free margin almost regularly arcuate 

 and hardly angulate, and having a short stridulating vein, in 

 marginella ; in couloniana the field is broader, with a rounded 

 obtuse angulation at the extremity of the vein, which is some- 

 what heavier and longer; in quadrata the breadth of the field 

 is distinctly greater, the margin is more decidedly obtuse-an- 

 gulate and but little rounded, while the stridulating vein is 

 more elongate; finally, in laurifolium the field is very broad, 

 the margin is more decidedly angulate and the stridulating vein 

 quite long and greatly thickened and elevated. 



The pronotum of the male shows a corresponding increase 



4 Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, 2e ser., XII I, p. 128 (1861). 



5 Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist, XIT, p. 331 (1869). 



6 Syst. Nat.. X ed., p. 429 (1758). 



'II, p. 201, pi. 236, figs. I and 2 (1725). 



