.ORIENTAL CICADIDM. 



Genus PCECILOPSALTRIA. 



PcecUopsnhna, Still, Hem. Afr. vol. iv. p. 2 (18G0|; Atkins. -T. A. S. Beng. vol. liii. p. 211 1 1H85) ; ibid. 

 vol. Iv. p. 143 (1886). 



Body robust, somewiiat short. Head broad, truncate anteriorly, including ej-es broader tban the 

 base of the mesonotum ; ocelli about twice and sometimes thrice the distance from eyes as from each 

 other ; face moderately convex, not prominent above. Pronotum with the lateral margins ampliated, or 

 horizontally and laminately expanded, obtusely or acutely angulated near centre. Anterior femora not 

 distinctly spined. Metastevnum elevated, the elevated i)ortion centrally sulcated and somewhat sinuately 

 truncated. Tympana practically covered ; opercula short, broad, their apices more or less convexly 

 rounded. Tegmina with the basal cell or area broad, irregular, with four or sometimes five angles ; ulnar 

 veins widely separated at their bases ; interior ulnar area somewhat broadened at apex. 



This genus has a wide distribution ; it is found in tropical and subtropical Africa, 

 throughout the Oriental region and enters the Palearctic fauna at China. Of twenty-five 

 species at present known to the writer or otl)erwise recorded, no less than twenty-one are 

 found in our fauna, and are here enumerated, nineteen only being figured, as two have proved 

 to the present time unprocurable. 



Many of the species show considerable dissimilarity to each other in coloration, structure, 

 and general appearance ; specific variation itself exists only to a moderate degree, and is 

 principally confined to the markings of the tegmina and wings. 



A. Tegmina and irimj.i clear and unspotted. ^' ■ if I ^ C ■ Y' 

 a. Pronotal angles very prominent and acute, en •■ <-- 



1. Poecilopsaltria bufo. (Tab. VIIL, fig. 20, a, h.) 



Oxypleura hufo, Walker, List. Hom. i. p. 27, u. 9 (1850) ; Atkins. -J. A. S. Beng. vol. liii. p. 216, u. 15 il885). 

 Platii/iieura {Oxijiileura) hufo, Butl. Cist. Ent. i. p. 195, n. 44 (1874). 

 Plati/pleuni hufo, Atkins. .J. A. S. Beng. vol. Iv. p. 149, n. 10 11886). 



This species is only known to the writer by Walker's type in the collection of the British 

 Museum. That specimen is here figured, and Walker's original description, slightly 

 remodelled in sequence, is reproduced.* 



"Body tawny; head and chest very broad: head much narrower than the fore-chest, + adorned with 

 two lilack irregular bands, the hinder one passing over the region of the eyelets ; face very slightly convex : 

 mouth I tawny, with a black tip, reaching the hind border 'of the drums § ; eyes not prominent; feelersll 

 black : fore-chest broadest in the middle ; scutcheon 1' adorned with a blackish mark in the middle : furrows 

 blackish; hind-scutcheon** pale tawny, ferruginous, much widened, and forming a very projecting right 

 angle on each side: scutcheon of tiie middle-chest tt ferruginous: hind border very slightly excavated: 

 abdomen ferruginous, shorter and narrower than the chest, J ♦ tawnj' at the tip and beneath ; operrula';§ 

 tawniy, partly pitchy, close ; drums tawny, rather large, nearly meeting, less than half the leugtli of the 

 abdomen, their disks darker : legs tawny ; tips of the claws black ; fore-thighs armed with two oxtreiuely 



* A comparison is also attempted of tlic structural terms used by Walker and those followed in this work. 



I Prosterniun. J Bostrum. 



§ Opercula. — The rostniin considerably jiasses tlie posterior margin of tlie opercula. 



II Antennip. 'I Pronotum. *^- Posterior margin of pronotuui. 

 ff Mesonotum. jj Sternum. §§ Tympanal coverings. 



