204 W. D. FUNKHOUSER 



COMPARISON OF CAYUGA LAKE BASIN WITH THE STATE AS A WHOLE 



It is interesting to note that of the seventy-six species of Membracidae 

 recorded for New York State, sixty-one have been found in the Cayuga 

 Lake Basin. It can hardly be argued that this is due to more rigorous 

 collecting in this region, for New York State has been for many years a 

 center for entomological investigation. Fitch and Emmons, at Albany, 

 were much interested in Hemiptera, and doubtless surveyed the region 

 about the capital very thoroly; more recently Lintner and Felt have had 

 opportunity to study material not only from the Hudson River Valley 

 but from practically every part of the State; the entomologists in and 

 about New York City and Brooklyn have always been active, and it is 

 reasonable to suppose that few new species will be recorded from that 

 region; Mr. Van Duzee, residing for many years in Buffalo, has covered as 

 an ardent sj^stematic hemipterist the territory about that city; and the 

 various experiment stations and granges thruout the State have kept 

 careful watch of insect material. It is only fair to presume that the state 

 records are reason^ably complete and that the Cayuga Lake Basin is 

 unusually well supplied with species of the family under discussion. 



The large proportion of species represented is more surprising when it 

 is remembered that many of the State forms are recorded only from Long 

 Island and Staten Island, and that these regions represent a faunal area 

 quite distinct from the remainder of the State. 



THEORIES OF ORIGIN AND PATHS OF MIGRATION 



The Membracidae are primarily a tropical and subtropical family. Of 

 over three hundred genera established in the family, only forty are found 

 in North America; and of these a number are represented by a single species 

 only. The great home of the membracids is apparently South America, 

 with Africa and southern Asia offering hardly less abundant forms. The 

 hypotheses of origin and distribution of the family are largely con- 

 jectural, as there is no paleontological evidence to be used as a basis and 

 the theories can be formulated only with reference to other more fully 

 established theories as worked out for other forms of plant and animal 

 life. No fossil membracids have been discovered, altho, singularly enough, 

 the closely related families of Cercopidac, Fulgoridae, and Aphididae are 

 represented in paleontological literature. 



