McAfee — Cercopidae near Washington, D. C. 175 



Clastoptera proteus var. anceps, n. var. — Black above, tegmina posterior 

 of apical callous yellowish hyaline, explanate margin anterior of middle 

 of costa sometimes same color; costal margin just anterior of apical 

 callous clear hyaline; black below, except lower part of face, clypeus 

 beak, most of pectus, and legs which are pale yellow with the following 

 parts dark; an elliptical spot on clypeus, tip of beak, lengthwise streaks 

 on anterior two pairs of femora, and tibiae and tarsi except the hind ones, 

 of which the spines and terminal joints are dark. Length, 2.75-3.25 mm. 



Type, a male, Beltsville, Md., June 14, 1914, W. L. McAtee. Paratypes, 

 with same data, also same locality, July 4, 1915, W. L. McAtee, and Cran- 

 berry Lake, N. Y., August 5, 1917, C. J. Drake. 



Clastoptera proteus var. vittata Ball. — Plummers Id., Md., July 1907, W. 

 Palmer; Beltsville, Md., July 4, 1915, on Azalea, Odenton, Md., July 4, 

 1913, W. L. McAtee; New Alexandria, Va., July, 1907, W. Palmer. 



Clastoptera proteus var. proteus Fitch. — Plummers Id., Md., July 6, 

 H. S. Barber, July 7, R. P. Currie, August 17, 1906, E. A. Schwarz and 

 H. S. Barber, July 4, 1907, Mt. Vernon, Va., June 27, 1905, on Cornus, 

 W. L. McAtee; Eastern Branch, near Benning, D. C, July 4, 1913, A. 

 Wetmore. 



Clastoptera proteus var. candens, n. var. — Like var. proteus except that 

 anterior two-thirds of clavus, scutellum, bands on pronotum and vertex 

 and face are orange-red, instead of yellow, and other pale markings are 

 ruddy tinged. Length, 3.25-4 mm. 



Type, a female, Mt. Vernon, Va., June 27, 1915, on Cornus, W. L. 

 McAtee. Two paratypes, same data. 



The high color of these specimens is not due to the influence of cyanide, 

 in the killing bottle, such as is sometimes observed in specimens of bees 

 of the genus Nomada and certain other insects, but was noted at the time 

 of collection. Certain animal pigments seem to be quite unstable and 

 the yellow of Clastoptera proteus may be another instance. Crawfishes 

 turn red after cooking, digestion in a bird's stomach, or weathering after 

 death; and one of the species of southern range (Cambarus clarkii) is 

 bright red in life. Some of the Eumenidge having yellow markings in the 

 north are red-patterned in the south. It would appear, therefore, that 

 climatic factors affect certain pigments of living animals in the same way 

 that chemical processes are known to affect them in the dead. The 

 present newly described variety of C. proteus may be an example of such 

 effect. 



C. obtusa Say. 



Key to the Varieties. 

 A. Scutellum and parts anterior, yellow to fulvous, without crossbands; 

 tegmina fuscous posteriorly. . achatina. 



AA. Vertex and pronotum with distinct crossbands. 



B. Crossbands on pronotum, or at least the posterior, dark, in great 

 contrast to the pale ground color; tegmina dark, each with an 

 irregular, oblique, pale crossband. tristis. 



