336 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Family PSEUDOPHYLLID.^E. 



This family is very extensive, if we consider it as represented in both 

 the Orient and Occident, together with the various islands of the 

 seas. Naturally the group is tropical, although quite a number of 

 the species of certain genera are found also in the warmer parts of 

 the temperate regions. Most of the species are inconspicuously 

 colored, i. e., they are generally various shades of browns and grays, 

 mottled and marbled with black, in such a manner as to be protected. 

 They generally live among dead and fallen leaves lying on the floor of 

 the forest, or among thorny herbs, shrubs, bushes, and on tree- 

 trunks in the crevices of and under loose bark, where they lurk during 

 the day-time and move about after nightfall. The representatives 

 of a few of the genera, however, are green and entirely arboreal, 

 and live among the foliage, which they imitate in general appearance. 

 Our true "katy-dids" are examples of these green forms. 



The various genera are separated by such characters as form of 

 pronotum, of meso- and metasternum, spine characters, form of ovi- 

 positor, antennal structure and length, on the presence or absence of 

 tegmina and wings, etc. The species, on the other hand, are recog- 

 nized more by color and comparative size of the various parts of the 

 body and attachments instead of the characters employed for generic 

 separation. Unless these insects are especially searched for, they are 

 liable to be overlooked. Hence the comparatively small series of 

 the different species, which generally are found in collections. The 

 various genera of the Pseudophyllida? belonging to tropical America, 

 North and South, may be differentiated as follows: 



Synopsis of the Tropical American Genera of Pseudophyllid.-e. 

 A. Foveola of the metasternum distant or joined by a transverse sulcus. 



b. Metasternum widely transverse, the foveolse farther apart than from the 



lateral border, always joined by a straight sulcus. 



c. All the femora unarmed below. Anterior tibiae provided with wide open 



foramina. (Legs slender. Tegmina strongly abbreviated, or, when 



they are perfectly developed, acuminate. Wings missing.) 



d. Pronotum flat. Femora smooth. Intermediate tibiaj unarmed 



above Aphractus Redtenbacher. 



(id. Pronotum saddle-shaped. All the femora below ciliate. Inter- 

 mediate tibiae spined above Polycleptis Karsch. 



cc. All the femora spined below. Anterior tibiae with the foramina shell-like. 

 d. Anterior femora above acute-angled or rounded, never compressed. 

 Intermediate tibiae somewhat compressed, often spined above on 

 both margins. 



