Lawson: Membracid.e of Kansas. 33 



more than one of I he abox'c regions, but the number of !>ueh species 

 is seemingly rather limited. Thus the American genera Ceresa and 

 Stictocephala, while well represented in both the Nearctic and Neo- 

 tropical regions, scarcely have a single species that occurs in both 

 regions. On the other hand, it is well known that some forms, such 

 as Micndalis calva (Say), are found in both the United States and 

 the West Indies. 



In North America the members of this family are best represented 

 in Mexico. As we advance northward they become fewer and fewer 

 till comparatively few species are found in Canada, where they 

 reach their northern limit. Van Duzee lists 41 genera in his cata- 

 logue of the Hemiptera -of North America north of Mexico. It is 

 perhaps safe to say that the number of genera for this region does 

 not exceed fifty. The number of species is listed at 185; which com- 

 pares very favorably with the 25 cercopids and the 74 cicadas, but 

 falls far short of the 357 fulgorids and the 698 cicadellids which oc- 

 cur in the same territory. Thus it is seen that in the United States 

 this family stands midway in membership among the five families 

 of the Homoptera-Aucheinorhynchi. 



So far the membracid fauna of Kansas is known to be repre- 

 sented by 20 genera. Further collecting will doubtless reveal the 

 presence of several other genera, and of course the number of spe- 

 cies will also be increased, for, after all, there has been rather little 

 attention paid to this family in the work of past collectors in this 

 state. This is shown by the fact that only about 50 out of the 105 

 counties of the state have as yet furnished us with specimens. How- 

 ever, these counties are so well distributed as to give us a very fair 

 idea of the membracid fauna of the entire state. 



The genera Telamona and Cyrtolobus show the most species in 

 the state, each having some ten or eleven species. These genera are, 

 however, not the ones that are most commonly seen, for both 

 Stictocephala and Ceresa are far more abundant as to individuals, 

 Ceresa bubalus (Fabr.) being by far the commonest species in the 

 state. Close to the two latter genera comes Micrutalis, the species 

 calva having been taken in about fifteen counties. Campy lenchia 

 latipes is also very common throughout the alfalfa fields of the 

 state. Vanduzea triguttata (Burm.) occurs in enormous numbers 

 when taken, as does Entylia concisa (Walk.), but hitherto these 

 species have not been taken in many places within our borders. 



