Kiekaldy. — Notes on Remiptera. 61 



3. Notwithstanding the complexity of these insoluble 

 compounds, the determination of the amount of sulpho- 

 cyanide required by the alkaloids for their formation serves 

 as the basis of an accurate and speedy method of estimating 

 quinine in the commercial drugs, and of assaying the crude 

 cinchona-bark. 



Experiments are now in progress to ascertain if this 

 method may prove of value in estimating cocaine in the com- 

 mercial preparations and in the assay of coca-leaves. With 

 suitable modifications it may also serve as a means of sepa- 

 rating different alkaloids, such as strychnine and brucine, or 

 quinine and strychnine. 



The above work was carried out in the Victoria College 

 Laboratory, Wellington, under the conditions of the Jacob 

 Joseph Scholarship. 



Art. XI. — Notes on the Remiptera of the " Index Fauna 



Nova- Zealand ice.' ' 



By G. W. KlRKALDY. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 7th June, 1905.] 

 Zoologists will be indebted to Captain Hutton for his reduc- 

 tion of the " Index," certainly no light task; but it is a pity 

 that the nomenclature of the Remiptera was not brought up 

 to date, as manv of the species are now placed in genera other 

 than those in which they were originally described. It would 

 require a new list to present this corrected nomenclature, but 

 the following notes may be useful : — 



P. 221. (a.) For Nezara amoyti read N. amyoti. 



(b.) Oncacontias vittatus (Fabr.) = Cimex vittatus, Fabr. 

 = Anubis vittatus, Index = Acanthosoma vittata, Distant, 

 1900, Ann. Mag. N.H. (7), vi, 227 = Oncacontias brunneipen- 

 nts, Breddin, 1903, S.B. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berlin, 219. Breddin's 

 genus may be held, though the distinction from Acanthosoma 

 is very slight. I can add Palmerston North (Quail) as a 

 locality. 



Additional Species and Varieties. 



Fam. Cercopidj3. 



Ptyelus (Phlcenus ! sic, Index) trimacuiatus , Walker, vars. 

 tristis and Icetus, Alfken, 1904, Zool. Jahrb. Sys., xix, 598. 



Fam. Chermid^; (Psyllida, Index). 



Psyllia acacia, Maskell, 1894, Ent. Mo. Mag. xxx, 171 ; 

 also found in Australia and Tasmania, probably introduced. 



