PS re HE. 



[June ,8g7. 



A NEW SUBFAMILY IN THE JASSIDAE. 



BY CARL F. BAKER, POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, AUBURN, ALA. 



In the National Museum Collection 

 there are several specimens of what is 

 probably the most remarkable Jassoid 

 insect yet discovered in North America. 

 They are from California and were col- 

 lected by Mr. Koebele. The peculiari- 

 ties of form and structure are matched 

 by several other Jassoids, its general 

 appearance being that of an Acocepha- 

 lid, yet the position of the ocelli com- 

 bined with its other characters, render 

 it unique. For while in general struc- 

 ture it is a Jassid (sens, strict.), yet in 

 the position ot the ocelli it is a Bythos- 

 copid, as these organs are well down 

 on the face. But the vertex is thin and 

 foliaceous, somewhat expanded before 

 the eyes, concave above and curved up- 

 ward, and nearly half again longer than 

 the pronotum, thus removing it far from 

 all Bythoscopid genera. In the passage 

 forward and downward of the Jassid 

 ocellus, this insect might have sprung 

 from the original Bythoscopid root, but 

 its development has certainly been along 

 entirely separate and distinct lines. A 

 more plausible theory is that there was 

 no movement of ocelli except toward 

 each other, the edge of the vertex just 

 above the ocelli becoming extended f:ir 

 forward over them in the form ot a thin 

 plate. This is borne out by the fact 

 that the ocelli are still on a line between 

 the upper edges of eyes. This insect 

 is the sole representative of a group 



which is further removed from the 

 Bythoscopinae, than the Ulopinae and 

 Faropiinae are from the Jassinae, or the 

 Ledrinae from the Tettigoninae. I 

 name this new genus and subfamily in 

 honor of the discoverer. 



Koebeliiiiae, n. subfam. Ocelli far below 

 anterior edge of head and distant fiom the 

 eyes, though on a line between upper edges of 

 eyes. Vertex thin, foliaceous, concave, bent 

 upward, slightly expanded before eyes, and 

 longer than pronotum 



Koebelia. n. gen. Head bioader than pro- 

 notum, vertex half again as long. Ocelli 

 as near to median line as to eyes. Elytra as 

 long as abdomen (exclusive of ? genitalia), 

 subcoriaceous, without an appendix. Veins 

 weak; four apical and two anteapical cells, 

 basal transverse vein entering radial cell ; 

 claval veins two. Type: — 



Koebelia califoriiica n.sp. ?. Length lo 

 tip of ovipositor, 7 mm. Light ferruginous, 

 variously clouded with paler. Face above 

 dark, with a transverse angulate lighter line 

 which tnedially sends three branches to tip 

 of vertex. Vertex with a median lighter 

 area, which is broader anteriorly ; extreme 

 anterior edge of vertex dark with fine light 

 interruptions. Pronotum with a median longi- 

 tudinal light line. Elytra opaque whitish, 

 with three irregular, darker, transverse bands, 

 the first indistinct, the second at middle of 

 elytra, and the third between second and 

 apex. All the veins and margins of elytra 

 with sparse black points. 



Vertex broadly subtriangular anteriorly, 

 length three-fourths of breadth between eyes. 

 Front long, narrow, gradually narrowed to 

 clvpeus, frontal sutures extending only to 



