Biology of the Membra cidae of the Cayuga Lake Basin 233 



specific character. Taken in gardens on cultivated plants, and occasionally 

 on low shrubs growing wild. 



This insect has been observed ovipositing on rosebushes during the 

 middle of September, and nymphs from these eggs appeared on July 1 

 of the following ,year. An attempt to rear these nymphs in the laboratory, 

 however, was unsuccessful owing to failure to discover a satisfactory 

 food plant. Since adults are not common in the field before the middle 

 of August, it appears that the species is one of the later forms of the genus, 

 the eggs being laid later in the season and the nymphs and adults being 

 correspondingly retarded. So far as is known there is but one brood in a 

 season. 



The species is most abundant in Stations C and P. 



Technical description. — Much resembling the preceding species, but differing in coloration 

 and not so hairy; undersurface of body black, the dark coloration often extending over face 

 and femora; metopidium nearly flat, dorsal crest low; posterior process slightly curved 

 downward. 



Head broader than long, very irregular in outline, roughly sculptured, not punctured 

 nor pubescent; eyes prominent, grayish, extending as far outward as humeral angles; ocelli 

 distinct, reddish, nearer to each other than to the eyes; clypeus irregular, swollen and hairj' 

 at apex. 



Pronotum finely and deeply punctate, very hairy; humeral angles prominent; suprahumeral 

 horns short, stout, blunt, horizontal, not projecting upward or backward; dorsal crest convex 

 but not high; semicircular impression distinct but concolorous; posterior process slender, 

 slightlj' decurved, extending beyond extremity of abdomen but not more than one-third 

 the distance from internal angles to tips of tegmina. 



Tegmina hyaline, somewhat wrinkled, apical veins often tinged with brown, bases lightly 

 punctate. Undersurface of body black; abdomen black below and segments often bordered 

 with black; underparts of head and entire femora usually black or brown. 



Length 7.5 mm.; width 3.5 mm. 



The genus Stictocephala Stal 



The two local species of the genus Stictocephala may be distinguished as 

 follows : 



Size large; color uniform green inermis 



Size small; undersurface of body black lutea 



Both species are common and they are about equal in numbers. Both are 

 more or less grass-inhabiting, and are more abundant in the lower parts 

 of the valley than in the upper. 



11. Stictocephala inermis Fal^ricius (Plate xxv, 12-14) 



1775 Membracis inermis Fabr., Syst. Ent. 4:678, no. 1. 

 1781 Fabr., Spec. Ins. 2:318, no. 16. 



