530 NOTKS ON CICADAS, 



appearance; the nervures of the hind wings horn-brown, with the 

 apex of the lower row of cells towards the tip deeply shaded with 

 black, fading out towards the middle of the wing. 



The whole of the insect is black on the upper surface, but 

 covered with fine silvery white hairs which form little white spots 

 here and there, looking as though it had been dusted with flour. 

 From this circumstance it has received from the Sydney children 

 the rather appropriate name of the " Floury Miller." 



None of this species were seen about Sydney until the com- 

 mencement of December. They are rarely found in gardens, 

 preferring the Eucalypts; at Manly on the 7th of December they 

 were very numerous upon the smooth stems of the apple tree 

 gums (Angophora lanceolata); upon one small limb not more than 

 a foot in diameter I counted 49, and all the trees in the gully 

 were covered with them. 



When singing they sit close against the stem, elevating the tip 

 of the abdomen and jerking it up and down while the song con- 

 tinues; their note is sharp and shrill, but more musical than any 

 of the other species. When sucking up the sap they flatten the 

 body against the branch, burying the rostrum right up to the 

 head, it being long enough to penetrate the stout bark and reach 

 the inner side. They remained in considerable numbers until 

 early in January, when they began to be scarce. 



PsALTODA FLAVESCENS, Dist. ("The Mottled Grey"). 



Expanse of wings 4J inches, width across the shoulders 7 lines, 

 length of body 16 lines. Wings hyaline, nervures brown, but 

 mottled with black, which extends over on either side, forming 

 three irregular bands across the wings, the nervures of the hind 

 wings brown. Ground colour of this Cicada black, thickly 

 mottled with chocolate brown and ferruginous red, the former 

 forming a slender parallel bar across the centre and a band along 

 the apical margin of the prothorax, a W-like mark in the centre, 

 a stripe on the sides of the mesothorax, and the edges of the 

 metathorax and scutellum pale brown, the ferruginous tints 



