' \ ; I 



. ■' ' \ 



84 Annals Entomological Society of A^merica [Vol. XIII, 



The writer some years ago brought together all the then 

 available material from the region of the United States, intend- 

 ing to publish a synopsis of this group following the same lines 

 as his work on the Tettigonidce. When the material was assem- 

 bled it was painfully evident that there had been little or no 

 biological work done on this group and that there were no 

 carefully bred series on which to base a study of the limits of 

 variation. Without such a basis it was evidently impossible to 

 ■determine the specific limits in this chaos of names so the 

 material was returned and the matter dropped except for the 

 collection of biologic material at every opportunity. 



The appearance of Gibson's synopsis with its many obvious 

 errors of refererice and synonomy, which if not speedily corrected 

 will cause endless confusion, caused the writer to again look 

 over the situation with reference to available material. A trip 

 to the East, in which a half dozen collections including the 

 National Museum were studied, showed that for at least three 

 of the worst confused species that sufficient material was 

 available so that these species could be properly characterized, 

 the variations in the color and size of sexes correctly pointed 

 out and a large part of the present confusion cleared up. 



When it is remembered that the whole 198 names apply to 

 a rather small number of species and that a very large part of 

 the types of these so-called species are in European museums 

 and the only possibility of determining their characters is 

 through meager descriptions it will at once be evident that even 

 though the species be correctly defined it may not be possible 

 in every case to determine the oldest name that will finally 

 apply to a given species. Some further changes in synonomy 

 may therefore be expected when type studies are made. For- 

 tunately or unfortunately, however, we shall have an abundance 

 of names that certainly apply to a considerable number of 

 the species. 



Key to the JSuhgenera of the Genus Gypona. 

 A. Vertex and front meeting in an acute angle, the margin more or less produced 

 and foliaceous. 



B. Venation more or less reticulate Gyponana nov. 



BB. Venation not reticulate; 5 apical and 3 anteapical cells. 



C. Elytra without dots or lines in the areoles, front broad, our 



species green or black Gypona Germ. 



CC. Elytra with dots or lines in the areoles, the front narrow, species 



cinereous or brown, never green Prairiana nov. 



AA. Vertex and front broadly rounding or with the margin thick and only slightly 

 produced Ponana nov. 



