L Reprinted from Proceedings of tlie Iowa Academy of Sciences for 1895. Vol. III.] 



A STUDY OF THE GENUS CLASTOPTERA. 



ELMER D. BALL. 



In the development of the hind tibiae and the structure and 

 venation of the wings, the insects under consideration repre- 

 sent the highest and most specialized forms of the Cercopidae 

 if not of the Homoptera; marking, as Uhler suggests, an 

 important advance toward the Heteroptera in the increased 

 freedom of the anterior coxae and the possession of a terminal 

 membrane to the corium. 



In order to correctly establish generic characters it will be 

 necessary, first, to separate off those of family value. 



FAMILY CERCOPID.^. 



The representatives of the family in this country, at least, 

 agree in possessing the following characters: 



Front inflated., convex or compresso produced; antennae inserted in 

 front of and between the eyes; ocelli, two, situated on the disc of the ver- 

 tex; thorax large, sexangular or trapezoidal; hemelytra coriaceous; pos- 

 terior coxte and femurs short, tibi;e spatulate, armed with two spurs, the 

 first once, the second twice as long- as tibire are wide; tibia; and two first 

 joints of tarsi terminated with crescent-shaped rows of spines, third joint 

 with a bifid claw. 



The following genera are represented in the United States: 

 Monecphora, Lepijronia, Aphrophora, Philaemis and Glastoptera. 

 These may be easily separated by the character of the venation 

 of either pair of wings by reference to plate XII. 



