150 



pressed, and furnished with a large oblong fovea. The elytra present 

 an indistinct sutural stria, and have two very narrow dusky bands cross- 

 ing them near the apex. The much-raised and incrassated margins of 

 the basal half of the abdomen are clothed with longish yellow hairs. 

 The legs in the female are simple and moderately stout ; the tibiae, slen- 

 der at the base, become gradually stouter to the apical third, and are 

 then contracted in vddth to the apex. In the male the femora are 

 much incrassated in the middle, and somewhat compressed ; the tibise 

 are much compressed ; those of the anterior legs are furnished with 

 two short spines at the apex, on either side of a depression into which 

 the tarsus is inserted ; and they arc suddenly dilated on the side at the 

 apical third, so as to form an angle terminated by an acute spine. Tlie 

 middle tibise are gradually dilated from the base to the middle, then 

 obliquely truncated on the outer side, and are furnished, like the an- 

 terior tibiae, with a spine on the inner side, placed at some little distance 

 from the apex. The hinder tibiae are more dilated, attaining their 

 greatest width at the apical third, and then being obliquely truncated. 



The section of Clavigeridce, to which this insect belongs, and which 

 is essentially distinguished by the possession of eyes, promises, from 

 the wide geographical range of the species hitherto discovered, to be- 

 come an important one ; and possibly the peculiar form of antennae 

 which characterizes the species just described may hereafter form a 

 sectional, rather than a specific character, in which case, it will be 

 desirable to raise it to the rank of, at least, a sub-genus, to which the 

 name Horaticus may be applied. 



Several specimens of this insect were found in an ants' nest at 

 Swan Eiver, "W. Australia, by Mr. DuBoulay ; who, as I am informed, 

 observed a very large number running about when he lifted up a stone 

 covering the nest. A subsequent visit, however, produced neither 

 beetles nor ants, owang to a flood having taken place. Mr. DuBoulay 

 remarks that when this insect is alive, the antennae seem flexible, " as 

 if made of india-rubber." 



AN ESSAY TOWARDS A KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH HOMOPTERA. 

 BY THE 31EV. T. A. MARSHALL, M.A. 



I design in the present paper to invite the attention of Entomolo- 

 gists to the British Homoptera Anclienorliynclia, better known as Cicadas. 

 There are probably about 130 indigenous species, the majority of which 

 are described in Continental works, and a few by Curtis, Leach, Hardy. 



J 



