84 ORIENTAL CICAD1D.E. 



Genus TACUA. 



Tacua, Amyot & Serville, Hist, des Hem. p. 461, 359 (1843); Still, Hem. Afr. vol. iv. p. 3 (1866); Atkins. 

 J. A. S. Beng. vol. Iv. p. 150 (1886). 



Body very robust and somewhat long. Head broad, truncate anteriorly, including eyes as broad as 

 anterior lateral margins of pronotum ; ocelli a little farther apart from eyes than from each other ; face 

 broad and convex, but somewhat compressed. Pronotum with the lateral margins convex, but not promi- 

 nently ampliated or laminately expanded. Anterior femora distinctly and robustly spined. Metasternum 

 centrally and longitudinally sulcated. Tympana covered; opercula long, extending a little beyond the 

 middle of abdomen, their margins subparallel and slightly overlapping at centre. Tegmina opaque; 

 apical areas eight, interior ulnar area somewhat widened at apex ; wings excluding margins opaque. 



This genus is only represented by one large and very handsome species, and its 

 distribution is focussed in the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and excepting a specimen 

 received from the island of Penang, I have no knowledge of it from any other habitat. 

 It certainly appears to be an insular and not a continental* genus. As in the genus Toscna, 

 its species varies in an albinic manner. 



1. Tacua speciosa. (Tab. II., fig. 9, a, b, and fig. 10, a, h, var.) 



Tettujonia speciosa, lUiger, Wied. Zool. Arch. ii. p. 145, n. 88, t. 2 (1800) ; Fabr. Syst. Khyng. p. 33, n. 1 (1803). 

 Cicada indica, Donov. Ins. lud. Hem. t. 2, f. 3 (1800—3). 

 Cicada speciosa, Blanch. Hist. Nat. Ins. iii. p. 165, n. 1 ; Hem. t. 9 (1840). 



Tacua speciosa. Amy. & Serv. Hist, des Hem. p. 462, n. 1 (1843) ; Atkins. J. A. S. Beng. vol. liii. p. 217, 

 n. 17 (1885); ibid. Iv. p. 151, n. 15 (1886). 



Body above black ; eyes, anterior pronotal margin (narrowly), posterior margin of pronotum, posterior 

 margin of the third, and the whole of the fourth, fifth and sixth abdominal segments, ochraceous ; basal 

 cruciform elevation red, with its anterior angles black ; body beneath black ; lateral areas and margins to 

 prosternum, a spot at lateral margins of third abdominal segment, and the lateral margins of the fourth, 

 fifth and sixth abdominal segments, ochraceous. 



Tegmina black, costal membrane and venation dull reddish, outer margin narrowly creamy-white ; 

 wings black, the outer margin (excluding anal area) creamy-white. 



Var. a. Tegmina and wings greyish-brown, the black coloration only observable at margins of 

 the veins. 



Long. excl. tegm. 47 to 57 millim. Exp. tegm. 150 to 180 millim. 



Hab. — Penang (coll. Dist.). Sumatra (coll. Dist. ; V. Langsberg — Bruss. Mus., Leyden Mus.). 

 Java (Amy. & Serv.). Bokneo : Sarawak (Beccari — Genoa Mus,) ; Kina Balu Mt. (Whitehead — coll. Dist.). 



According to Donovan, a single specimen of this species vsras found in Bengal by 

 Mr. Fichtel, and deposited in the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna, but that habitat I consider 

 liable to the greatest doubt. It may possibly be found in the Malay Peninsula, as a specimen 

 has been received from the adjoining island of Penang, but I have hitherto seen no examples 

 from the mainland, nor did I meet with the species myself when residing in that country. 



The pale-coloured variety is found with the normal form of the species, and I have quite 

 recently received both, collected at the same time, from Kina Balu Mountain in Borneo. 



='■ The words "insular" and "continental," as here used, represent strictly subdivisions only of the "continental" 

 area, bounded by the thousand-fathom line as generally understood in zoo-geographical distribution. Sumatra, Java, and 

 Borneo thus form part of that "continental area," but iu this work the areas have to be more finely drawn, and the cioadan 

 fauna of these islands are compared with those of the sivrrounding continental lands. 



