128 Journal New York Entomological Society, t'^'o'- ^^viii 



In 1888 P. R. Uhler in his '' Preliminary Survey of the Cicadsea 

 of the United States," Entomologica Americana, IV, p. 22, states that 

 " This neat little insect is of a pale green color when alive, sometimes 

 marked with fuscous, but speedily becomes straw yellow after desica- 

 tion and exposure to the air. It inhabits the plateau-lands of Georgia, 

 Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Texas; but it 

 has not thus far been reported from the costal plain of any of the 

 States in which it has been found." 



In 1892 Uhler in his " Preliminary Survey of the Cicadidae of the 

 United States, Antilles and Mexico," Trans. Maryland Academy of 

 Science, I, p. 165, says further regarding the species: "Common in 

 various parts of the United States, and quite variable in color and 

 pattern of marking. When fresh, the ground color is pale green, 

 with the marking of the head, thorax and tergum brownish black; 

 but when dried and kept for some time in the cabinet it becomes pale 

 or dark straw-yellow. Specimens from Florida are much narrower 

 than those from Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska. A male from Texas 

 is faded straw yellow, with a little black on the vertex and about the 

 antennae. The males are sometimes much smaller than the females." 



It will be noted from the foregoing that Say thought that his 

 parvnla might occur either "" dull testaceous " or green, and Uhler 

 considered parvnla '' quite variable in color," and that the fresh green 

 specimens changed in the cabinet to a '"pale or dark straw yellow." 

 The series of specimens now in the writer's collection shows that 

 calliope in the southeastern United States is marked in the males as 

 described by Walker, and that the females which are usually larger 

 are often lighter colored and without the dark marks on the body. 

 Specimens examined from Florida and parts of Georgia are green, 

 and the same difference in size usually exhibits between the males and 

 females. Specimens from Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa are usually 

 lighter colored than more eastern examples, and while the males have 

 dark marks on the body, the females, which are usually larger than 

 the males, are generally straw yellow ; some, however, show faintly 

 the dark marks on the dorsum, particularly on the mesonotum. 



Specimens of Melanipsalta, supposed to be calliope as described 

 by Walker, have been examined as follows : 



Virginia. — Opposite Plummer's Island in the Potomac River, Au- 



