A MOXOGRAPH OF THE AUSTRALIAN 

 MEMBRACID^. 



By F. W. Goding. M.D.. Ph.D. 



(Plate i.) 



IXTRODUCTIOX. 



The Jlembracid^ are distinguished from the other Homoptera 

 by the perpendicular head, the wonderful development and pro- 

 longation posteriorly of the prothorax. and the venation of the 

 tegmina and wings, although all of these characters are more or 

 less modified, gradually passing to those of closely related groups. 

 An example of variation in the form of the head is seen in Por- 

 corhinus. where it is horizontal and shovel-shaped, while in the 

 prothorax the posterior process may be absent as in the same 

 genus. The normal number of veins passing from the base of 

 the corium is three, yet in some of the genera there is but one. 



The head is usually perpendicular: when viewed from the front 

 it is triangular, quadrilateral, or bandeau-shaped, with the large 

 globular eyes on each side of the base, between which are the 

 ocelli The prothorax usually covers the chest and abdomen, but 

 in aU the Australian forms examined by me the scutellum is more 

 or less exposed. Above the attachments of the tegmina are the 

 lateral angles, which may be prominent or obsolete. The dorsum 

 may be convex, tectiform. flat or elevated in protul^e ranees or 

 horns, and extends, posteriorly, in a variously shaped process, which, 

 however, may be absent, and nearly always there is present a 

 percurrent median longitudinal carina. When the posterior 

 process is absent, the scutellum frequently is furnished with horns 

 or spines, and in form it is usually triangular, the apex termi- 



