206 NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF THYSANOPTERA 



Froggatt*, Government Entomologist, gives an interesting 

 account of the life history of Idolothrips spectrum Haliday. 

 In the preface, however, Mr. Froggatt states that from the 

 study of a large quantity of material it is evident to him that 

 Haliday described the two sexes as distinct species, and a 

 smaller and more variable form of the male as a third. He 

 writes the synonymy thus : — Idolothrips spectr^tm Hal. (^), 

 = margmata Hal. (?), = lacertina Hal. (,^). 



Knowing Haliday's discriminative powers in groups of 

 minute and infinitely more difficult insects, and referring to his 

 original descriptions, I am inclined to believe that two at least 

 of his species are valid. Halidayj divided the genus into two 

 divisions thus : — 



A. Abdomen segmentis posterioribus tam longitudinis quani 

 latitudinis ratione decrescentibus, lateribus fere muticum. 



AA. Abdomen longissimun, segmentis penultimis oblongis, 

 lateribus denticulatum, tubulo basi gibbulo et muricato. 



/. marginata is placed in the first division, and spectrum 

 and lacej'tina in the second. Whilst not wishing to make any 

 statements before an actual examination of the types has been 

 made, I am convinced that /. marginata is not only specifically 

 but generically distinct from the species of the second division. 

 Though making such assertions, Froggatt brings nothing 

 whatever forward to support his views, nor does he, when 

 describing the imago, describe the female sex but only the 

 male, which would seem to suggest that he only knew the 

 male and was not therefore in a position to state that 

 Haliday's /. marginata was the female of /. spectrum. There- 

 fore the two species thus reduced to synonyms should, I 

 think, be reinstated until something more definite can be said 

 about them. The division of which Idolothrips is the typical 

 genus is apparently a large group both in genera and species, 

 and one of wide distribution. 



* Proceedings Linnsean Society of New South Wales, 1904, Part I., 

 PP- 54-57, pl- iii- 



f " List Homoptera in coll. British Museum," Walker, Part IV., 

 p. 1096, Physapoda. 



