Biology of the Membra cidae of the ("ayuga Lake Basin 26.5 



Pronotum thicldy punctured, finely pubescent. Humeral angles pronounced, rounded, 

 extending as far laterad beyond eyes as width of eyes; dorsal crest slightly wider than high, 

 sloping both before and behind, sides deep brown with the color extending posterio-ventrad 

 to lateral margin of pronotum, posterior line of crest yellow; median dorsal line percurrent, 

 distinct, mottled before crest; posterior process not quite reaching tips of tegmina; apical 

 end broadly brown, tip acute and black. 



Tegmina smoky hyaline, veins very prominent, bases sharply punctate with black, apices 

 brown. Undersurface of body yellowish; last segments of female darker. Outer surfaces 

 of tibiae mottled with brown; claws fuscous. 



Length 9 mm.; width 4.5 mm. 



The genus Archasia Stal 



The genus Archasia is an interesting one. Its species show the broad, 

 compressed, leaf-hke expansion of the pronotum suggestive of the tropical 

 forms of the genus Membracis. The colors of the species in Archasia, 

 however, are not brilliant, being usually green or brown with occasionally 

 a decoration of black points along the dorsal margin. 



Only two species of the genus arc found in the United States, and of 

 these one is found in the Cayuga Lake Basin. This is A. Belfragei, one 

 of the few species of local Membracidae that are really representative of 

 the family in general shape and appearance. 



38. Archasia Belfragei Stal (Plate xxvii, 13) 



1869 Archasia Belfragei Stal, Bid. Memb. Kan., p. 250. 

 1894 Godg., Cat. Memb. N. A., p. 425. 



1908 Van Duzee, Stud. N. A. Memb., p. 73. 



1909 Smith, Ins. N. J., p. 92. 



1913 Funkh., Hom. Wing Veins, figs. 40, 63. 



1915 Metcalf, Hom. No. Car., p. 7. 



1916 Van Duzee, Check List Hem., p. 60, no. 1662. 



♦ Rather common on oak and locust. Taken only on the east side of the 

 lake, on the wooded slopes. Easily recognized by the very foliaceous 

 pronotum. The nymphs have not been found and apparently do not 

 inhal^t the trees on which the adults are found. The life history has 

 therefore not been worked out. 



Technical description. — Green fading to yellowish in cabinet specimens; pronotimi high, 

 strongly foliaceous, dorsal margin brown; tegmina about half concealed by pronotum; posterior 

 process not reaching apices of tegmina. 



Head nearly twice as wide as long, smooth, sparingly pubescent; base high and sinuate; 

 eyes very prominent, shining dark brown; ocelli pearly, prominent, nearer to each other 

 than to the eyes. 



Pronotum closely but weakly punctate, not pubescent; humeral angles small, triangular; 

 dorsal crest very high, flattened, foliaceous, almost vertical above head, slightly concave 



