345 



Catalogue of the cicadid>e in the South Austra- 

 lian Museum, with Descriptions of Several 

 New Species. 



By Howard Ashton. 



(Communicated by A. M. Lea.) 



[Read October 8, 1914.] 



Plate XVII. 



Through the courtesy of the Director of the Museum 

 (Mr. Edgar R. Waite) and the Entomologist (Mr. Arthur 

 M. Lea) I have had the opportunity of working upon the 

 material collected in the Homopterous family Cicadidce. The 

 collection is certainly an interesting one, and most of the 

 specimens are well preserved. Included in it are some of the 

 types of Coding and Froggatt, several of which I find are 

 synonymous with older species. One of these, the type of 

 Melampsalta flava, God. and Frogg., which is stated by the 

 authors to be a mutilated specimen, is, in my opinion, so much 

 mutilated that it should never have been made a type of a 

 species. It may be a perfectly good species. On the other 

 hand, it may be a pale, immature, and mutilated specimen 

 of half a dozen other species. There are some fine series of 

 species in the collection, and these are always valuable. As 

 large series become available it is certain that specimens now 

 regarded as of different species will be recognized as examples 

 from each end of such ranges. In a country of such extent 

 as Australia one must look for considerable geographical 

 variation in species both as regards colour and size, and even, 

 in dominant species, shape. Melampsalta landsboroughi, 

 Dist., for instance, M. torrida, Erich., Pauropsalta melano- 

 pygia, Germ., and M. abdominalis, Dist., are species of great 

 range and great variability. In the larger species Tamasa 

 tristigma, Germ., and Macrotristria intersecta, Walk., are 

 examples of extreme variability. This has misled workers in 

 the past, and will mislead them in the future. I myself do 

 not .claim immunity from error. But I have examined a 

 very large number of specimens in the Museum collections 

 of Australia, and have also large series of species in my own, 

 and my conclusion is that one should be extremely careful 

 about making new species on colour or even on slight varia- 

 tion in form unless many specimens are available. With the 



