FAM. MEMBRACIDvE 167 



situated above a line drawn through centers of eyes ; inferior margins of gense rounded; clypeus broad, 

 flattened, subfohaceous, extending for three-fourths its length below inferior margins of genae. Prono- 

 tum convex, without processes; metopidium sloping, about as broad as high; no median carina; humeral 

 angles weak and rounded; scutellum entirely exposed, swoUen at base, acuminate or spinehke at tip, 

 strongly carinate. Tegmina hyahne; entirely free; tips broadly rounded; five apical and two discoidal 

 cells ; apical limbus extremely narrow. Hind wings with four apical cells and one discoidal cell. Legs 

 simple, hind legs much longer than the others; hind tarsi longest. 



Type alitna Walker. 



Geogpaphical distribution : This genus is known only from tropical South America. 



1. aliena Walker. List Hom. B. M. Suppl. i65 (i858). Brazil. 



2. spinosa Funkhouser, Journ, N. Y. Ent. Soc. XXXVHI: 4. 409 (igSo). Ecuador. 



— Pl. 9, fig. 126. 



3. stylata Buckton, Mon. Memb. 212 (igoS). Brazil. 



146. GENUS LOPHYRASPIS Stal 



Lophyraspis Stal, Hem. Fabr. II : 55 (1869). 



Characters : Close to the preceding genus but distinguished by the unarmed head, and differ- 

 ing from the foUowing genus (Gerridius), with which it has often been confused, by the absence of the 

 erect horn on the scutellum, Head subquadrangular, about as broad as high; base strongly arcuate; 

 eyes large, globular; ocelli much farther from each other than from the eyes and situated well above a 

 line drawn through centers of eyes; inferior margins of genae rounded ; clypeus broad and flattened and 

 extending for at least half its length below the inferior margins of the genae. Pronotum roundly convex, 

 without processes of any kind; metopidium sloping, about as vvide as high ; median carina percurrent; 

 humeral angles small and rounded ; scutellum triangular, longer than its width at base, strongly carinate 

 above, acute at tip. Tegmina hyahne ; entirely exposed ; five apical and two discoidal cells ; apical limbus 

 obsolete. Hind wings with four apical cells. Legssimple; hind tarsi longest. 



Type vittata Ohvier. 



Qeographical distribution : A South American genus represented by the foUowing species : 



1. parvimosca StoU, Nat. Cicad. 63 (1780). Venezuela. 



2. pigmaa Fabricius, Syst. Rhyng. 44. 57 (i8o3). DutchGuiana, BritishGuiana. 



3. scutellata Fabricius, Syst. Rhyng. 44. 58 (i8o3). Brazil. 



4. vittata Ohvier, Enc. Meth. V : 762. 65(1790). Brazil, Colombia. 



147. GENUS GERRIDIUS FOWLER 



Gerridius Fowler, B. C. A. II : i65 (1896). 



Characters : We have previously (Funkhouser 1927) considered this genus a synonym of 

 Lophyraspis but we are now convinced that the tvvo genera are distinct; the chief difference beingthat in 

 Stal's genus the scutellum is merely strongly carinate while in Gerridius the scutenum is developed into 

 a high, fiattened horn. The specimens of Gerridius vvhich we have seen are small, with unarmed piono- 



