28 [January, 



In my Synopsis of British Cicaditui I have followed Dr. Sahlberg, 

 and considered the group as a section of Limotettix, but having lately 

 become acquainted v\ith a greater number of the described species, I 

 now think that it will be best to treat it as a distinct genus, charac- 

 terized by the neuration of the elytra and wings. A French translation 

 of Fieber's work on the genus, with valuable additions by M. Lethierry, 

 is published in the Eevue d'Eutomologie for 1885 ; the late Mr. 

 Scott, too, has a paper on the genus, which is chiefly useful to the 

 student for the detailed description of C. frontalis, at page 231 of 

 vol. xi of this Magazine. From the description of Fieber's C. frontalis, 

 published in 1885, it is clear that his insect is not identical with Scott's 

 insect of the same name, as the former seems to have imagined. 

 Scott's description having been published ten years prior to that of 

 Fieber, a new name for the latter's insect becomes necessary, and I 

 have, therefore, called it C. Fieheri. 



The most obvious feature of the genus is the evanescence of the 

 upper branch of the cubital nerve, a peculiarity which is shared by 

 Gnathodus, but in the latter the first wing-nerve and the upper branch 

 of the second coalesce before the apex of the wing, and thus run into 

 the marginal nerve. In all the species that I have been able to 

 examine, the sedeagus is formed on the same plan, namely, a subterete, 

 more or less tapering base, supporting a pair of slender pointed arms, 

 which in C. metria only are unequally bipartite ; the last named species 

 is aberrant also in the form of the genital plates, which are nearly flat 

 throughout, and obliquely truncate at the apex, and the pygofer 

 projects beyond the plates for a distance nearly equal to their entire 

 length ; in the other species they are abruptly narrowed at a distance 

 from the apex, varying from about one-half to one-third of their entire 

 length, the narrowed portion is bent upwards, and wants the long 

 white cilia which clothe the outer margin of the horizontal portion of 

 the plate, and the pygofer does not project for any appreciable dis- 

 tance beyond the apex of the plates. 



In these insects, as \n many other Gicadina, the form of the 

 sedeagus affords the most constant structural specific character, and 

 I have, therefore, given outline figures of that organ in several of the 

 species ; at present it is only necessary to have recourse to this part 

 for the separation of species in the case of otherwise doubtful 

 examples of C. G-notata and C Fieberi ; but in view of the probable 

 existence of species otherwise perfectly distinct, but closely resembling 

 those already described in general appearance, the diagnosis of a 

 Cicadula, which does not give an account of the sedeagus, cannot be 

 expected to stand. 



