JASSID^. 157 



Family JASSID^. 



TettigoniidfB, Fitdt, Romop., Fourth Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Cab. Nat. 



Hist. p. 55 (1851). 

 Jassida, Stdl (part.), Hem. Afr. iv, p. 82 (1866). 

 Subfam. Jassida, Sta/, torn. c'it. pp. 83 & 99 (1866). 

 Jassidse, Fieb. Verh. zool.-hot. Ges. Wien, xvi, p. 500 (1866) ; 



Osborn i^- Ball, loica Ac. Set. iv, p. 172 (1897). 

 Jassides, Si(/n. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1879, p. 47. 

 Jassoidea, Van Duzee, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. xix, p. 296 (1892). 



The always moi'e or less closely spinulose condition of the 

 posterior tibise is a character alone sufficient to distinguish the 

 members of this very large and, as regards most tropical regions, 

 little known family. Those of the Palaearctic and Nearctic Eeo-ions 

 are now fairly well known. The Jassidae of Central America will 

 receive adequate treatment in the pages of the ' Biologia Centrali- 

 Americana.' As regards South America, the Ethiopian and 

 Australasian Eegions, and the islands of the Malay Archipelago, our 

 knowledge as regards this family is still small and fragmentaiy. 

 An attempt is here made to describe the genera and species found 

 in British India. Atkinson writing in 1S86. remarked that " the 

 number of Jassidae alone awaiting examination should add several 

 hundred species to our Indian fauna "' ; and this forecast was not 

 an exaggerated one. 



My work with the Indian Jassidae is naturally that of the pioneer. 

 I recognize the difficulties and dangers in such an enumeration. 

 Many genera and species are so widely distributed, that >some 

 synonymy will probably be discovered by Jassid specialists who 

 have worked at other faunas, while a still greater diiBcuIty exists 

 in the recognition of sexual dimorphism. I have worked at the 

 large material which lias passed through my hands without the aid 

 of iield-notes or the observations of economic entomologists, and 

 therefore cannot expect to have avoided mistakes where the sexes 

 are so diverse as we know them to be, in some instances, in our 

 own fauna. The adjustment of such differences must be left to 

 the observations of the able economic entomologists now holdino- 

 appointments in British India. 



Great difference of opinion still exists as to the subfamilies in 

 which many genera should be placed. I have followed in the main 

 the excellent work of Mr. Van Duzee in the classification of the 

 Jassidae, adding in some instances the different tasonomical views 

 of other workers. This, however, is a very healthy sign, and the 

 study is frequently more advanced by the different propositions in 

 classification, when they are proposed on special reason?, than is 

 the case when a canon is claimed for an individual arrangement, 

 as has been done for the Capsidae with disastrous results in 

 retarding a knowledge of that family. 



