250 Transactions. 



A Revision of Hvtton's Plesiotypes in the Cicadidae. 



Future workers on the family will find it difficult to follow Hutton's 

 observations on the cicadas in his " Synopsis of the Hemiptera of New 

 Zealand " {Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 30, p. 167, 1898) without some knowledge 

 of his plesiotypes. These, it is gratifying to learn, are being kept in their 

 original arrangement at the Canterbury Museum, where the Curator kindly 

 allowed me to examine them. The following species are represented : — 



1. Melampsalta scutellaris Walk. — Two females are labelled correctly. 

 and two other specimens appear over the name M. dejecta Huds. 



2. M. cingulata Fabr. — Two typical examples. 



3. M. strepitans Kirkaldy. — One specimen labelled correctly as M. cingu- 

 lata var. obscura Huds., and one other wrongly identified as M. mangu 

 F. B. White. 



4. M. cruentata Fabr. — A long series of this common and difficult 

 species is divided under the names M. muta, M. cutora, M. cruentata, and 

 M. angusta. The. M. muta series consists of specimens of M. cruentata var. 

 subalpina Huds. It is interesting and rather puzzling to note that there 

 is not a single true specimen of M. muta (cutora, or cuterae) in the collection. 

 The Chatham Islands seem to possess a constant and well-marked variety 

 of M. cruentata, represented here by six specimens, and characterized 

 by a dark-ochreous ground-colour, marked extremely heavily with black. 

 I shall have occasion elsewhere to mention the tendency towards melanism 

 in the Chatham Island Hemiptera. 



5. M . cincta Walk. — This species is represented by a number of typical 

 specimens labelled M. iolanthe, and by a series of rather dark forms 

 lacking the green costa and standing above the name M. cincta. 



6. M. quadricincta Walk. — This is correctly labelled M. nervosa Stal, 

 which falls into synonymy. There is another specimen unlabelled. 



7. M. iolanthe Huds. — There is one unlabelled specimen. 



Explanation of Plate XLV. 



Fig. 1. — Melampsalta nigra n. sp., male. 

 Fig. 2. — Melampsalta nigra n. sp., female. 

 Fig. 3. — Melampsalta quadricincta Walk., male. 

 Fig. 4. — Melampsalta quadricincta Walk., female. 

 Fig. 5. — Melampsalta cingulata Fabr., male. 

 Fig. 6. — Melampsalta cingulata Fabr., female. 

 Fig. 7. — Melampsalta strepitans Kirkaldy, male. 

 Fig. 8. — Melampsalta cauta n. sp., male. 

 Fig. 9. — Melampsalta iolanthe Huds., female. 

 Fig. 10. — Nymph of Melampsalta cingulata. 

 Fig. 11. — Melampsalta cincta Walk., male. 



Explanation of Plate XLVI. 

 Fig. 1. — Melampsalta leptomeraw. sp., female. 

 Fig. 2. — Melampsalta fuliginosa n. sp., female. 

 Fig. 3. — Melampsalta scutellaris Walk., male. 

 Fig. 4. — Melampsalta scutellaris Walk., female. 

 Fig. 5. — Melampsalta muta Fabr., male. 

 Fig. 6. — Melampsalta muta Fabr., female. 

 Fig. 7. — Melampsalta indistincta n. sp., male. 

 Fig. 8. — Melampsalta indistincta n. sp., female. 

 Fig. 9. — Melampsalta cruentata Fabr., male. 

 Fig. 10. — Melampsalta cruentata Fabr., female. 

 Fig. 11. — Melampsalta cruentata Fabr., red variety, male. 

 Fig. 12. — Melampsalta cruentata Fabr., var. subalpina, male. 

 Fig. 13. — Melampsalta cruentata Fabr., var. subalpina, female. 

 All figures natural size. 



