160 Psyche [October 



NOTES ON THE MANTID GENUS GO N ATI ST A SAUSS. 



By A. N. Caudell, 



Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Besides the doubtfully included trifasciata of Haan from Brazil 

 the genus Gonatista is represented in our catalogues as containing 

 a single species, grisea Fabr., with four names quoted in the syn- 

 onymy under it. All these synonymic names are based on early 

 diagnoses of a few broad terms, wholly inadequate for accurate 

 determination. It is indeed doubtful if all the names do refer to 

 the same species, as there are no less than four distinct species of 

 the genus before me from North America and examination of the 

 types of these various species now quoted as synonyms of grisea 

 is necessary to settle without doubt their identity and to deter- 

 mine whether, or not, they are all one species. The size of Ser- 

 ville's 'phryganoides shows its distinctness from the larger forms 

 and cuhensis of Saussure is precluded by its size from being the 

 large species described below as new under the name viajor. 

 Grisea Fabr. was published without either measurements or locality 

 and with characters almost equally applicable to any of the four 

 species before me. I follow most authors in using this name for 

 the common species found in the Southern United States. Phry- 

 ganoides Serv. I use for a small finely maculate species from the 

 West Indies. For a third species, also from the West Indies, I 

 arbitrarily use the name reticulata of Thunberg and refer to the 

 synonymy under it the bifasciata of Haan and the cubensis of 

 Saussure. The fourth, and largest, species I describe as new. 

 As stated above a future study of the types of the old authors may 

 show the above nomenclature to be faulty but for the present no 

 better arrangement seems possible. 



The four species of the genus as here considered may be sep- 

 arated as follows, the characters based wholly on the male sex, 

 females of several species being unknown to me. 



