OniKXTAL CICADID.E. 19 



Genus PLATYPLEURA. 



J'laUjplfiirii, Amyot & Serville, Hist, ties Hem. p. 465 (1843) ; Stiil, Hem. Afr. vol. iv. pp. 2 & 9 (18G6) ; Atkins. 



J. A. S. Beng. vol. Iv. p. 144 (1886). 

 OxypUiira, Amyot & Serville, Hist, des Hem. p. 469 (1843). 



General characters of Pcecilopsaltria, but distinguished from that genus by having the head, including 

 eyes, not or scarcely broader than the base of the mesonotum. 



This genus has a wide and almost conterminous distribution with that of Pacilopsaltria. 

 It is found in tropical and subtropical Africa, where it is most abundant and largely represented, 

 exists more sparingly in the Oriental region, and enters the Palssarctic fauna at Japan. My 

 catalogue of this genus enumerates thirty-four species, but of these five only are found in this 

 fauna, thus being in marked contradistinction to the preceding genus, as Platijplcttra is focussed 

 in the Ethiopian, as PacilopsaUi-ia was shown to be in the Oriental region. Here we have two 

 genera closely allied, but separated by the relative widths of the head and mesonotum. In Africa 

 the more contracted head is in the ascendancy, and Plat ij pleura is the dominant genus, whilst in 

 the Oriental region the positions are reversed, and Piecilopsaltria, with the widened head, reigns 

 supreme. Such facts find their place in the ever-increasing evidence for what is usually called 

 the " Darwinian theory," and although their bearing or explanation is not at once seen, they 

 become part and parcel of the great "case" which is now being so widely recognised by 

 naturalists and students of all orders and of diverse views. 



A. IViiiiin, excluding margin, opaque. 



1. Platypleura repanda. (Tab. I., fig. 7, a, h.) 



Ciaida rciHindii, Liuuffius, Syst. Nat. i. 2, p. 707, n. 17 (1707) ; Mas. Lud. Ulr. p. 159, n. 6 (1764); Gmel. ed. 



Syst. Nat. i. 8, p. 2097, n. 17 (1782) ; Oliv. Enc. Metb. v. p. 754, u. 36 (1790) ; Germ. Then. Arch. ii. 



p. 220 (1830) ; Silb. Rev. Ent. u. p. 78 (1834). 

 Tettiyonia repanda, Fabr. Sp. lus. ii. p. 321, n. 16 (1781); Maut. Ins. ii. p. 267, n. 20 (1787) ; Ent. Syst. iv. 



p. 23, 24 (1794) ; Syst. Rbyng. p. 41, n. 39 (1803). 

 Fidiciiia.' repanda, "Walk, (part), List Horn. i. p. 90, n. 22 (1850). 

 Platyp'eura iihahnioideit, Walk. List. Horn. i. p. 4, n. 9 (1850); Butl. Cist. Eut. i. p. 186, u.ll (1874); Stal, 



Ofv. Vet. Ak. Forb. 1862, p. 480; Atkins. J. A. S. Beng. vol. liii. p. 211, n. 3 (1885). 

 Platypleura intana, Walk. List Horn. iv. p. 1119, n. 30 (1852). 

 Platypleura n-panda, Atkins. J. .\. S. Beng. vol. Iv. p. 150, n. 14 (1886) ; Dist. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, ser. 2a, 



vol. vi. p. 453 (1888). 



Head, pronotum, and mesonotum greenish-ochraceous, with the following black markings : — head 

 with a spot on each side of base of front, a narrow transverse waved fascia between ej'es, and some spots 

 on disk of vertex ; pronotum with a central longitudinal fascia, widened posteriorly, some curved fascia 

 behind eyes, and the anterior portion of the dilated lateral margins ; mesonotum with four obconical spots 

 on anterior margin— the central ones shortest — a lanceolate central discal spot and a small spot in front of 

 each anterior angle of the basal cruciform elevation. Abdomen blackish, clothed with yellowish pile, and the 

 posterior segmental margins ochraceous. Head and sternum beneath thickly clothed with yellowish pile ; the 

 longitudinal sulcation, and some of the transverse striations to face, black ; legs pale castaneous, femora 

 with a dark spot at base and apex ; opercula black, the outer margin narrowly ochraceous ; abdomen 

 beneath black, clothed with yellowish pile. 



