HOMOLOGIES OF THE WING VEINS OF THE 

 MEMBRACIDAE.i 



W. D. FUNKHOUSER. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Since in problems of phylogeny and taxonomy of insects the 

 homologies of the wing-veins are being taken more and more 

 into consideration, it is evident that the available data on this 

 subject should be as complete as possible. 



In the work which has been done along this line, certain 

 families of the Homoptera have received but little attention 

 and of these the Membracidas appear to have been entirely 

 neglected. For this reason, and because of a large personal 

 interest in this group of bizarre insects, this study has been 

 undertaken, hoping that it might be possible to add in some 

 measure to the knowledge of hemipterous wings. 



The work was begun two years ago at the suggestion and 

 under the direction of Dr. MacGillivray, then of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, and has been completed under the supervision of Dr. 

 Bradley, of the Entomological Department of Cornell, to both 

 of whom I am greatly indebted for their most helpful criticisms 

 and suggestions and for access to the specimens in the Cornell 

 collection for examination and comparison. 



METHOD. 



Of the various methods of approaching the subject of 

 wing-vein homologies, the Comstock-Needham theory^ that 

 the study should be based on the ontogenetic consideration of 

 the tracheae which precede the veins has been so fully estab- 

 lished and is so applicable to the membracid wing that any 

 other method of procedure in the examination of this highly 

 specialized and complex homopterous type would appear to be 

 the merest guess-work. It has been a source of the greatest 

 satisfaction in the application of this theory to find that the 

 nymphal tracheation has proven in most cases an open index 

 to the adult venation, while the variation and peculiarities of 

 many veins can be traced directly to the behavior of the tracheas 

 which preceded them. 



1. Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory of Cornell University. 



2. The Wings of Insects, Am. Nat. XXXII and XXXIII, 1898, 1899. 



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