Myers. — Revision of the New Zealand Cicadidae . 239 



beautiful forms, for which no one has yet found popular names. It is 

 proposed to devote a later paper to the leaf-hoppers generally. 



Of the families themselves, the Cicadidae, though attaining a very high 

 degree of specialization in their stridulatory organs, are yet to be considered, 

 as a whole, the most primitive. In general points of structure, particularly 

 of the head and thorax, and in wing-venation, the cicadas are considered 

 by Osborn to approach, more closely than do other Auchenorrhyncha, the 

 Psyllidae, which Tillyard believes to be the oldest family of the Sternor- 

 rhyncha. Though this lends additional colour to the view that the 

 Cicadidae are the most primitive of the Auchenorrhyncha, fossil cicadas, 

 according to Tillyard, do not occur before the Cretaceous, long after 

 typical Jassids and Fulgoroids had appeared. 



So much for the present state of knowledge — or, rather, speculation — 

 with regard to the phylogeny of the family. With respect to structure, 

 the Cicadidae are characterized by — Ocelli three, on vertex. Head and 

 antennae very short. Rostrum long, with three joints. Thorax large, 

 with a narrow transverse pronotum and a large mesonotum carrying 

 posteriorly a cruciform elevation. Tegmina and wings usually hyaline. 



The subfamily Tibiceninae may be recognized by the entirely uncovered 

 state of the sound-organs in the male ; while the genus Melampsalta Amy. 

 (= Cicadetta Kol.), to which all our species belong, is identified by the 

 union or close contiguity of the bases of the. ulnar veins of the tegmina 

 at the end of the basal cell. 



The genus Melampsalta, though occurring in Europe and Asia, has its 

 headquarters in Australasia. Of the thirteen New Zealand species, the 

 common and variable M. cruentata (angusta) occurs also in Adelaide and 

 Victoria (Goding and Froggatt). All the others, with the possible but 

 highly improbable exception of M. quadricincta, are endemic. 



With regard to the biology of these beautiful insects, which are popu- 

 larly but very inaccurately known as " locusts," very few details are 

 known. During the summer months almost every type of country, be it 

 bush, meadow, swamp, seashore, scrub, or alpine slope, is enlivened by the 

 song of one or more peculiar species. I should like to emphasize the fact 

 that practically every species described may be distinguished in the field 

 by characters — such as song, habitat, and, may I say, psychology — other 

 than those usually considered by the systematist. It has been noticed that, 

 even in the most variable forms, the song is practically the same through- 

 out the species. It is, however, rather difficult to describe and to utilize 

 for a written description. 



I have observed either oviposition or, much more frequently, the marks 

 of the process in two species, M. cingulata and M. cruentata. In the latter, 

 for example, a twig of Macropiper excelsum was gashed to the centre for 

 about 2 in. In the former a female M. cruentata was operating on a fairly 

 soft, green stalk of fennel (Foeniculum), with her body parallel to the stem 

 and her ovipositor working with a vigorous, vertical, saw-like motion at 

 right angles. 



The nymphs on hatching are said to drop to the ground, beneath which 

 the whole of the nymphal instars are passed. It is hoped to obtain next 

 season more precise information regarding the events subsequent to hatch- 

 ing in the New Zealand species. The nymphs at a later stage, with their 

 very powerful, fossorial first pair of legs, and their smooth, yellowish 

 integument, are familiar objects to the gardener. The duration of the 

 subterranean existence of the New Zealand species is not known ; but 



