210 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



not exceeding middle coxae ; vertex much shorter than pronotum, 

 obtusely angulate ; ocelli close together ; pronotum, lateral margins 

 long, strongly oblique, posterior margin straight or emarginate; 

 elytra coriaceous, much wider than pronotum, lateral margins 

 rounding symmetrically to apex, venation somewhat obscure, 

 apically reticulate. 

 M. bicincta (Say). (Fig. 19, 1-4.) 



Cercopis bicincta Say. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vi, 303, 1831. 

 Monecphora bi fascia Walker. List Horn. Brit. Mus., 679, 1851. 

 Monecphora angusta Walker. List Horn. Brit. Mus., 680, 1851. 

 Monecphora neglecta Walker. List Horn. Brit. Mus., 683, 1851. 

 Monecphora ignipecta Fitch. (Descrip.) Third Rep. Ins. N. Y., 71, 1856. 

 Tomaspis rubra Fowler. Biol. Cent. Amer., 183 (in part), 1897. 

 Totnaspis bicincta Ball. Proc. la. Acad. Sci., vi, 207, 1898. 



Robust, broadly oval, with narrow angulate head. Black, con- 

 spicuously marked with red and yellow. Length 8-10 mm. ; 

 width 5 mm.* 



Vertex broad, disc sloping, deep depressions lateral to median 

 carina continuing along suture of vertex and tylus ; front strongly 

 inflated, nearly right-angled with vertex, medially unicarinate ; 

 pronotum, disc convex, one-half wider than long, lateral margins 

 roundingly divergent, reflexed, posterior margin roundingly 

 emarginate; elytra convex, about twice longer than wide, apex 

 broadly rounded ; pubescence fine, sparse. 



Genitalia: Female, last ventral segment one-half as long as 

 preceding, flattened in median line, laterally depressed; plates in 

 median line at base of ovipositor curved outwardly, converging to 

 sharply pointed apices ; py gofers broad, outer margin incurved, 

 exceeded one-third their length by ovipositor. Male, valve short, 

 truncate, on apical border scarcely wider than base of plates; 

 plates long, length twice width, pointed, outer margins sinuate, 

 inner margins strongly incurved from anterior third to tip. Both 

 male and female structures in toto projected dorsally in vertical 

 plane. 



Color : Dark chestnut-brown to black ; entire margin and 

 longitudinal median carina of vertex, eyes and ocelli, and lateral 

 margins of pronotum, red ; a narrow transverse band across the 

 humeral angles of pronotum and two slightly wider ones parallel 

 to this trisecting the elytra, red varying to creamy-yellow (typical 

 form bicincta) ; dark form with bands partly or entirely absent 

 (var. ignipecta Fitch). 



Distribution : This single species of the genus Monecphora (a 

 genus well represented in the tropics), while a common species in 

 collections from Mexico and the West Indies, has but a sparse 

 distribution in the United States. Its varietal distribution is quite 

 conspicuous. The var. ignipecta Fitch (PI. iv, 26) is a northern 

 form exclusively, has a distribution throughout the New England 



* Width is given as greatest measurement across elytra when folded. 



