Myers. — Revision of the New Zealand Gicadidae. 249 



Melampsalta muta Fabr. — With regard to this species it must be 

 emphatically maintained that it forms no part of H. muta Huds. in Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. 23, p. 51, 1891. Hudson consistently kept this species, 

 under his name, M. aprilina, distinct from all the varieties of M. cruentata 

 Fabr. (Hudson's M. muta and M. cincta Walk.). 



Melampsalta quadricincta Walk. — It should be noted that there are 

 still no further grounds than Walker's authority for believing that this, 

 our common alpine cicada, occurs in Australia. 



The following are additional notes on distribution and time of occur- 

 rence : — 



Melampsalta. cruentata Fabr. — The Dominion Museum possesses twelve 

 specimens (two females and ten males) of the variety subalpina Huds., 

 collected by W. L. Wallace, of the W. R. B. Oliver expedition to the 

 Kermadecs in 1908. They were common on Sunday Island amongst ngaio 

 (Myoporum laetum) from the end of August to March. Unlike the common 

 form of M. cruentata, the variety subalpina is remarkably constant — a 

 character well exhibited by the twelve museum specimens. It should be 

 noted that, whereas the angusta form occurs in Australia (Goding and 

 Froggatt, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. 29, p. 643, 1904), apparently the 

 only form in the Kermadecs is variety subalpina. 



Li New Zealand itself the time of appearance of M. cruentata is evidently 

 much earlier than previous records indicated. Mr. T. Cockcroft found a 

 small dark male with the typical cruentata song on a bank with a northerly 

 aspect at Upper Hutt on the 17th October, 1920. I have no records from 

 the North Auckland district, where, judging from its appearance in August 

 in the Kermadecs, it is probably much earlier. 



Melampsalta muta Fabr. — This species was heard frequently, and a 

 male was taken by T. Cockcroft as late as the 3rd June last season in 

 Wellington. In the Wellington district, therefore, there .are only three 

 months during which cicadas have not been taken. 



General Notes on Occurrence. 



There are indications that this season's work will materially extend 

 the known range, both seasonal and geographical, of the New Zealand 

 cicadas. Judging from material in hand, it appears extremely probable 

 that at least two more alpine species exist. These will be described at the 

 end of the season, when more specimens are available. Meanwhile cicadas 

 from all parts of the Dominion will be received and acknowledged with 

 gratitude by the writer at the Biology Laboratories, Wellington. Already 

 I am indebted to Messrs. Hamilton, Cockcroft, Roberts, Grimmett, Harris, 

 Campbell, Lindsay, Philpott, Clark, and other indefatigable collectors, not 

 to mention Mr. G. V. Hudson, who has always allowed me access to his 

 own representative collection. 



This supplement does not claim to bring our knowledge of the family 

 in New Zealand up to date, as it is being sent to press in the middle of the 

 season . 



On Taxonomic Characters in the Cicadidae. 



It has been suggested that the male genitalia will prove of great value 

 in determining some of the difficult species (Kirkaldy, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 vol. 41, p. 28, 1909).. The work of investigating the differences in genitalia is 

 now in hand, and progressing as well as the paucity of material in the rarer 

 species will allow. So far, however, our hopes have not been abundantly 

 realized. Genital differences are often of the greatest value in separating 

 genera ; but our cicadas belong, unfortunately, all to the same genus. 



