30 STUDIES IN NORTH AMERICAN MEMBRACID^ 



In this paper, which must be considered merely as a cont- 

 ribution to our knowledge of these insects and in no sense mon- 

 ographic, I give synoptical tables of the subfamilies, genera 

 and species, descriptions of the new forms that have come into 

 my hands for study, and comparative notes on most of the less 

 known of the older species. I have appended outline figures 

 showing certain characters used by me in discriminating the 

 species. Without such an aid it might be difficult to under- 

 stand some of the comparative characters I have found it 

 expedient to employ in the synoptic tables. 



The list at the end of this paper includes all species known 

 to me to occur in America north of the southern boundry of 

 the United States, or that have been recorded therefrom. No 

 attempt has been made to give the complete distribution of the 

 species. 



A few of the terms used may need a word of explanation. 

 The metopidium, first used I think by Canon Fowler, is the 

 front of the pronotum, perhaps best seen in Ceresa where it is 

 bounded by the lateral carinate edges arising from the anterior 

 angles, and meeting at or behind the middle to form the dorsal 

 carina. The suprahumerals are the lateral horns placed gen- 

 erally on the edge of the metopidium some distance above the 

 humeral angles. These also are best seen in Ceresa. The 

 apex of the clypeus is ordinarily produced in a rounded knob 

 below the line of the cheeks but sometimes its anterior aspect 

 is bounded below by a ridge or angle that gives it, when viewed 

 from before, the appearance of ending there. This angle may 

 be advanced farther down toward the chest or altogether want- 

 ing, in which case I have styled the apex of the clypeus 

 "incurved". In the Telamonas and their allies I have described 

 the dorsal hump or crest as viewed from the side. My nom- 

 enclature of the elytral venation is that used by Fowler and 

 others except that I have called the third apical areole the 

 "terminal areole '. It is a character frequently referred to in 

 the specific descriptions. The same areole in the wing beneath 

 is used in generic diagnosis. 



It affords me pleasure to acknowledge the kind assistance 

 received from many of my friends and correspondents, from 

 whom I have received material of much service to me in these 

 studies. Perhaps most useful to me was the very full collection 



