TRANSACTIONS 



OF 



THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 



I. Observations on the Genus Derbe of Fabricius. By J. O. Westwood, Esq., 



F.L.S., $c. 



Read December 1st, 1840. 



1 HE insects composing the Homopterous order or suborder certainly exhibit 

 the most extraordinary variations of form which are to be met with in this class 

 of beings. Amongst a portion of these insects we trace two modifications : in 

 a very great number, composing the subfamily Membracides, we find the pro- 

 thorax enormously developed, and presenting an almost endless variety of ap- 

 pearance, and the head small ; whilst in many of the family Falgoridce the head 

 is the portion of the body which is subjected to an increased development. 

 Having illustrated the typical genus of the latter of these two groups in a me- 

 moir which has been honoured by a place in the Society's Transactions, I pur- 

 pose in the present paper to investigate another genus belonging to the same 

 group, which, although not presenting so extraordinary an appearance as the 

 true Fulgorce, is, nevertheless, interesting both on account of several portions 

 of its structure, and from the circumstance of its intimate connexion with 

 the two groups established by Mr. Kirby in the Transactions of this Society 

 under the names of Otiocerus and Anotia, both of which, and more especially 

 the latter, continue so rare, that even in the most recent works upon the order 

 we find scarcely any addition made to the information contained in the memoir 

 vol. xix. b 



