64 



INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



A female example (Apia, ii.l924, Buxton and Hopkins) lias a large piece 

 bitten out of the base of the abdomen, and was taken from a large introduced 

 wasp, Polistes macdensis which, had captured it. Vespids are also known as 

 enemies of cicadas in North America (Davis). 



" Dasypsaltria maera " Haupt = Platypleum divisa (Germ.). 



In 1917 Haupt (Stett. Ent. Zeit, Bd. 18, p. 303, fig. 1) erected under the 

 name Dasypsaltria, a new monotypic genus to receive D. maera, a supposed 

 new species believed to have been collected in Samoa. On 7th June, 1926, 

 Herr Haupt was so good as to write to me regarding this species as follows : — 



" In meiner Dasypsaltria maera mochte ich bemerken, dass ich da getauscht 

 worden bin. Sie gehort zu der stark variierenden Platypl. divisa Germ., was ich 

 aber wegen des etwas abnormen Pronotums lei der zu spat erkannte. Getauscht 

 wurde ich auch durch die Herkunfts-Angabe. Einer unserer Kolonial Beamten 

 hatte das Tier in Siid-Afrika erbeutet, reiste von dort nach Samoa und sandte 

 es von dort zur Bestimmung nach Halle." Dasypsaltria is thus a synonym of 

 Platypleura. 



- . In the meantime, unfortunately, Kato {Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa, 17, 

 p. 210, 1927) has described a new Formosan cicada as Dasypsaltria formosana. 



