334 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION OP THE 

 AUCHENORRHYNCHOUS HOMOPTERA. 



By Dr. H. J. Hansen. 



(Continued from p. 172.) 



C. Legs. 



These are best discussed when the coxae, trochanters, and 

 femora are considered together, and the tarsi separately by them- 

 selves ; of the tibiae, I have nothing new to say here. In con- 

 nection with the posterior coxae, I mention the ventral part of 

 the third thoracic segment ; this part is termed the metasternum, 

 which is scarcely correct, but I have not been able to distinguish 

 between sternum, epimera, and episterna, and therefore call 

 attention to an observation by Schjodte in his celebrated work:* 

 " Cryptocerata [in the Heteroptera] have undivided thoracic 

 segments, like all other Rhynchota. A re-examination will 

 certainly give the result that a veritable suture between sternum 

 and epimera will in no case be found." 



1. Coxae, Trochanters, and Femora. 



As regards the coxae, authors have hitherto been content 

 usually to describe their extension in breadth and length ; but 

 attention should also be directed to matters fully as important 

 (as Schjodte has pointed out), viz. the movements they are able 

 to perform in consequence of the form, and according to the 

 quality of their articulation. The anterior legs present such 

 strong agreement among all the families that they can be dis- 

 cussed under a single heading, but the other two pairs must be 

 considered in each family separately. 



a. Anterior Legs. 



The coxae are sometimes of considerable length, propor- 

 tionately to their thickness or breadth {Strididantia, Fidgora), 

 sometimes tolerably short and broad {Tettigometra, Aethalion), 

 scarcely, however, ever shorter than broad ; but whatever their 

 shape may be they are attached to the body only by their oblique 

 basal part, so that an always considerable distal portion is 

 entirely free ; and, in the next place, they are always articulated 

 more or less towards the sides of the prothorax, with the interior 

 angles of their articulation at least a very considerable space from 

 the insect's middle plane, and they are then directed backwards 

 and inwards against the middle plane. The trochantins (pi. ii. 



■-'= " Nogle nye Hovedsfetninger af Ehynchoternes Morphologi og Sys- 

 tematik" (Naturh. Tidskr. (3), vi. pp. 237-66, 1869), translated into English 

 in 1870, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), vi. pp. 225-49.— G. W. K. 



