PltOCEEDINOa OF THE NATION A I. MCSEVM. rouxx 



Cha racier istirM and limitatioHH. — Stilted jis briefly as possible, tlif 

 "Melaiiopli are Acri<lijiiis in which the antennae are hinder than the fore 

 femora, whieli liave no tbveohie ou the vertex, the tsiHti^iinn ii.ore or less 

 <letlexed, passing insensibly into the frontal eosta, the prosternuni 

 nineronate, no sharp and distinct lateral caritiae (or they are rarely 

 jjresent), an aroliuin on all the tarsi, the hind tibiae with smooth mar 

 gins, i»rovided with 9-14 (by rare exception 8) spines regularly disposeii 

 in the outer series, whi<'h lacks an ai)ical representative, an<l the second 

 liind tarsal joint only half as long as the first. 



. To state their characters more in detail, the Melanopli maybe described 

 as Acridians, generally of small or medium size, never very large, iu 

 which the head is not greatly exserted and the face is ujoderately obli(pie 

 or subvertical ; the antennae are linear, longer than the fore femora; the 

 eyes are of moderate size, not very strongly ]>rominent, never twice as 

 long as the intraocular portion of the genae, the interspace between 

 them very rarely broad, generally narrow ; the fastigium is more or less 

 declivent, never greatly i)roduced in the axis of the body, apically entire 

 and with no transverse ruga, passing insensibly and with obtuse arcu- 

 ation into the frontal costa; the latter is hardly rounded as seen from 

 the side, percurrent or subpercurrent, generally sulcate, the sulcation 

 ordinarily confined to the lower portion: without foveolae, the tempora 

 small, obliquely declivent, confused with the front; the superior ocelli 

 more distant than the antennal scrobes; the lateral carinae of the face 

 nearly equidistant from the lateral margins of the frontal costa, but 

 slightly divergent inferiorly. The dorsum ot the pronotum is nearly 

 plane and without a crest, generally with no distinct lateral carinae, but 

 at most with rounded shoulders or feeble rugae to represent them, but 

 often passing insensibly into the lateral lobes; the principal sulcus is 

 continuous; the prozona is generally smooth or obsoletely i)unctate, 

 never tuberculate, its sulci generally feebly impressed, often mesialiy 

 interrui)ted or subinterrui)ted, the i)osterior sulcus often distinctly 

 divergent laterally from the principal suh'us; the metazona is generally 

 shorter than the prozona and lies iu the same or nearly the same plane 

 with it, almost always densely punctate; the lateral lobes are truncate 

 or subtruncate posteriorly, with no humeral sinus or only a feeble one. 

 the posterior lower angle distinctly obtuse. The prosternum is armed 

 with a spine which is usually rather prominent and conical, sometimes 

 truncate, never sinuate, generally vertical on the posterior face, nearly 

 or quite as high as the anterior coxae, the posterior portion of the pro 

 sternum not or but slightly tumescent; the roesosternal lobes are quad- 

 rate or transverse, separated more or less widely, the apical inner angle 

 rectangulate or obtusangulate, generally rounded Coften obtusely), tie 

 inner margins generally rounded, often posteriorly divergent; the meta 

 sternal lobes are contiguous or not very distant excepting sometimes 

 in the female and then rarely as distant or even nearly as distant as 



