PIIASMID.E. PRISOPUS. 



167 



mesosterni medio segmentisque ventralibus abdominis in 

 medio nigro fasciatis (mas et foem.). 



Long. corp. maris, unc. 2^; cap. lin. 2; anten. — ?; 

 proth. lin. 2 ; mesoth. lin. 2 ; metath. lin. 5 ; abdom. lin. 

 12-flin. 3= lin. 15 ; tegm. lin. 13 ; alar, expans. unc. 3-J-. 



Long. corp. fcem. unc. 3 ; cap. lin. 4 ; anten. ultra lin. 18; 

 proth. lin. 3£ ; mesoth. lin. 3^; metath. lin. 6 ; abdom. 

 lin. 1 7+lin. 4=lin. 21 ; tegm. lin. 16 ; alar, expans. unc. 4. 



Phasma flabelliformis (Le Dragon d'Amboyne), Stoll, 

 Spectr. pi. 18. f. 65, and Append. 



G. R. Gray, Syn. P/iasm. p. 27 (Prisopus f.). 

 Burnieister, Ilandb. d. Ent. ii. 2. 588. 

 Phasma Dracunculus, Lichtenstein, Linn. Trans, vi. p. 16. 

 Mantis sacrata, Oliv. Enc. Meth. vii. 639. no. 76. 



Lepel. $• Serville, Enc. Mith. x. 444 ; Ann. Sci.Nat. 

 xxii. 63 (Prisopus sacr.). 

 Prisopus spinicollis, Burnieister, o. c. p. 588. 



Hob. In Brasilia ; Cayenna. In Mus. Hopeiano Oxonise 

 (mas et fcem.). B.M., &c. 



The locality of Amboyna given to this species by Stoll, 

 together with the circumstance that the membranous lobes 

 of the terminal segments of the abdomen in the specimen 

 of the female figured by that author were incurved beneath 

 the body, as is often the case, and consequently not re- 

 presented in his figure, led Burmeister to consider Stoll's 

 insect as forming a distinct section in the genus, and con- 

 sequently as distinct from the Brazilian insects which he 

 had before him. This circumstance he corrected in his 

 memoir in Germar's Zeitschrift, where, however, he con- 

 siders his Prisopus spiniceps as identical with Stoll's insect, 

 retaining Pr. sinnicollis as distinct. I am unable to sepa- 

 rate the last-named species from Stoll's figure, believing 

 that the want of a pair of spines on the pronotum in that 

 figure is an error of the artist. On the contrary, Bur- 

 meister's short description of Prisopus spinicollis is as 

 follows : — 



" Cinereo-viridis ; spinis verticis minoribus simplici serie ; 

 pronoto scabro, bispinato ; alarum area postica albida ; 

 venis transversis nigris. — Long. corp. unc. 2£. — Habitat in 

 Brasilia*." 



Bunneister's description of Pr. spiniceps accords better 

 with Serville's description of the insect, which the latter 

 regarded as the Pr. flabelliformis, but which seems to me 

 to differ from Stoll's figure, judging as I do from a speci- 

 men evidently named by Serville himself, formerly in M. 

 Marchal's collection, now preserved in the Hopeian Mu- 

 seum. This wants the two spines on the pronotum, which, 

 on the contrary, is granulated, as well as the mesonotum ; 



* The reference by Burmeister of this species to Xerosoma canali- 

 culatum, and by Dc Haan to Plalytelus horridus of G. R. Gray, cannot 

 be adopted. 



and the wings have the posterior area black, the spaces be- 

 tween the broadly-stained transverse veins being very small, 

 and stained with light brown, and not greenish white and 

 distinct as in the other species. 



The male of this species, which appears to be extremely 

 rare, not having been seen by any previous writer, has long 

 been in my Collection. It agrees in general characters with 

 the female, except in being smaller and much more slender, 

 the basal segments of the abdomen not being more than 

 2 lines broad, which is indeed the general width of the 

 insect. 



2. (438.) Prisopus spiniceps. 

 Cinereo-viridis ; spinis verticis majoribus triplici serie ; 

 pronoto granulato ; alarum area postica nigra, albo tessellata. 

 Long. corp. 2^". 



Prisopus spiniceps, Burmeister, Ilandb. d. Ent. ii. 2. 588. 

 Prisopus flabelliformis, Serville, H. N. Orth. p. 283. 

 Hub. In Brasilia ; Cayenna. 



Referring to the observations on the preceding species, I 

 shall here merely add, that the specimen of the female in 

 the Hopeian Collection, which agrees with Burmeister' s 

 characters, but which bears Serville's label Pr. flabelli- 

 formis, has the following proportions : — 



Long. corp. unc. 3i ; cap. lin. 4 ; proth. lin. 3£ ; mesoth. 

 lin. 5 ; metath. lin. 7 ; abdom. lin. 18 + liu. 4 = lin. 22 ; 

 tegm. lin. 17 ; alar, expans. unc. A\. 



The spines at the back of the head are not larger than 

 those in Pr. flabelliformis ; the surface of the head is 

 nearly smooth ; the pronotum and mesonotum are distinctly 

 granulated ; the costal area of the wings is more tessellated 

 in the middle, the hinder area very much darker, and the 

 ventral segments of the abdomen are marked on each side 

 with a triangular dark patch united in the middle, but not 

 forming distinct fasciae. 



3. (439.) Prisopus Ohrtmauni. 

 Thorace brevi, tcretiusculo, granulato; elytris mediocribus 

 ovato-oblongis ; alis rotundatis, abdomine brevioribus, costa 

 concolori griseo-fusca ; pedibus anticis latissimis, omnibus 

 membranaceis marginato-ciliatis ; capite antice granulato, 

 postice spinoso, spina sesquialtera longiori auriformi ; an- 

 tennis longitudine corporis, articulis oblongis depressis. 



Phasma Ohrtmanni, Lichtenstein in Linn. Trans, vi. p. 17. 



t. 2. f. 1. 



G. R. Gray, Syn. Phasm. p. 28 (Prisopus Ohr.). 



Hab. In Indiis. Mus. Ohrtmann (India orieutali, G. R. 

 Gray. Anrecte?). 



De Haan has given this species as identical with Bur- 



