PSYCHE. 



IDENTIFICATION OF TWO OF FITCH'S SPECIES, VIZ., DELTO- 

 CEPHALUS MELSHEIMERII AND CHLOXOTETTIX UNICOLOR. 



BY C. P. GILLETTE, FORT COLLINS, COLO. 



It was my good fortune the past sum- 

 mer to spend a few days in Albany, 

 N. Y., and while there, was greatly fa- 

 vored by Dr. E. P. Felt, State Entomolo- 

 gist, who kindly allowed me to study the 

 specimens in the box of Fitch types of 

 Homoptera. 



It will be remembered that in 185 1 

 Dr. Fitch published a list of the Hom- 

 optera of New York State which he 

 entitled a " Catalogue with references 

 and descriptions of the insects collected 

 and arranged for the State Cabinet of 

 Natural History." 



The insects upon wliich the paper 

 was based were given printed numbers 

 ranging between 609 and 874 inclusive, 

 and were placed in the collection of the 

 New York State Cabinet of Natural 

 History in 1850. In 1879, as we are 

 told in Dr. Lintner's Ninth Report as 

 State Entomologist, p. 380, the collec- 

 tion was transferred to the office of the 

 State Entomologist. The case contain- 

 ing the collection is kept hermetically 

 sealed in a dark place and most of the 

 specimens, except for the Apliididae and 

 Typhlocybinae are still in a fair state 



of preservation. Prior to 1879, museum 

 pests destroyed a considerable number 

 of specimens and the color markings of 

 others have largely faded out. 



A label upon the box in Dr. Lintner's 

 hand reads as follows : 



" Homoptera 

 Arranged by Dr. Fitch in 1850: Trans- 

 ferred to this case in 1879. Con- 

 tains 54 species and 5 subspecies 

 of types of Dr. Fitch. See Fourth 

 Report N. Y. State Cabinet N. H.. 



pp. 43--69-" 

 One of my chief objects in examining 

 tliis collection was to determine whether 

 or not Mr. *Haker is correct in overturn- 

 ing the opinions of other specialists as 

 to the true Dellocephaliis mehheimerii 

 and Chlorotettix uiiiiohroi Filch, both of 

 which were reported in " Hemiptera of 

 Colorado" (Bulletin 31 of the Experi- 

 ment Station). 



Deltocephalus mehheimerii Fitch. — 

 Although Dr. Fitch speaks of this 

 species as " Common on grass," he 

 described it from a single pair, the male 



*Psyche, 1S97, p. 118 and 1S9S, p. 219. 



