88 Howard Askton : 



stand by. When I do venture to' differ from such an authority 

 as Mr. Distant, and it is very rarely, it is with a deep sense 

 of the obligations I myself and other workers must acknow- 

 ledge to the greatest living authority on the family. Where I 

 differ from Messrs. Goding and Froggatt, also, I do so with 

 the respect due to those who have done pioneer work in their 

 Monograph. 



I have included New Zealand in the ground covered by this 

 revision, because the few cicadas there are obviously descendants 

 of Australian ancestors, all belonging to our greatest and most 

 widely diffused genus, Mclampsalta. With the exception of one 

 or two from Lord Howe and Norfolk Island, the rest are from 

 the continent itself, or from islands so close to it that they may 

 be regarded as portions of the mainland. My system of refer- 

 ences comprises all distinct synonyms, descriptions, and especi- 

 ally figures. In some cases, where I have not seen an authentic 

 specimen of a species, I publish the original descriptions. Several 

 new descriptions and generic divisions are also included. Where 

 types are available, I have named the collections in which they 

 are. 



Sub-family CICADINAE, Dist. 



This family contains the largest and most conspicuous of the 

 Australian Cicadas. It is distinguished by the cryptic disposition 

 of the tympana, which are fully covered by a prolongation of 

 the basal abdominal segmental walls. In some genera these 

 covering processes are dilated into large horny sacs. 



Division Polyneuraria, Dist. 



Genus Platypleura, Amyot and Serville. 



Type P. stridula, Linnaeus (Africa). 



This genus, dominant in Africa, and widely spread from that 

 continent across Asia to the Philippine Islands, is represented by 

 one species in Australia. I do not, however, feel at all sure the 

 evidence of Australian habitat is established. 



Platypleura tepperi, Goding and Froggatt. 



Platypleura tepperi, God. and Frog. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 



1904, p. 568, pi. xvii., fig. f . 5 a. 

 Type, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, other specimens 

 in the Macleay Museum, Sydney. Hab. — Northern Territory. 





