76 



INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



: NOTONECTIDAE. 



Anisops Spinola. 



■> This large genus, which is represented by three species in the collection, 

 has now become taxonomically one of the most difficult groups of water-bugs. 

 As Bergroth * remarked, " Kirkaldy has published revisions of the different 

 genera f of this family, but his attempt to make them better known was a 

 failure. These insects offer good specific characters, but Kirkaldy was unable 

 to express the differences in words, and his descriptions are so vague and con- 

 fusing, and in so many cases positively wrong (especially in the comparative 

 measurements of the tibiae and tarsal joints) that they are practically almost 

 useless." 



The species mentioned below have been carefully determined by the study 

 of many types and of more recent literature of the group. 



8. Anisops fieberi Kirkaldy. 



Anisops niveus Fieber (nec Fabricius), Abh. hdhn. Gesel. Wiss., Prague, (5), vii, p. 484, 1852 ; 

 Matsumura, Trans. Safporo Nat. Hist. Soc, i, p. 28, 1906 ; Esaki, Ent. Mag., Kyoto, i, p. 31, 

 1915. 



Anisops fieberi Kirkaldy,J Entomologist, xxxiv, p. 5, 1901 ; Wien. Ent. Zeit., xxiii, p. 116, 1904 ; 

 Distant, Faun. Brit. Ind., Rhynch., iii, p. 46, 1906 ; Hale, Record. S. Austral. Mus., ii, p. 400, 

 lig. 363, 1923 ; Arliv Zool., Stockholm, xvii. A, uo. 20, p. 17, 1925 ; Esaki, Ann. Mus. 

 Nfition. Hungar., xxiv, p. 188, 1926. 



Anisops kuroiwae Matsumura, Ent. Mag., Kyoto, i, p. 109, pi. iii, fig. 3, 1915 {Syn. nov.). 



former. It may also be pointed out here that a Malayan cicadid, Cryptotympana aquila (Walker) 

 was originally described by Walker (List Homop., i, p. 84, 1850) from a specimen from " Corea." 

 The type is still preserved in the British Museum, and the label refers the specimen to the same 

 source as the specimens of Peltopterus macrotltorax from " Corea " mentioned above. It is, there- 

 fore, very reasonable to suppose that this specimen was also collected on " Madgico-sima " or 

 Yayeyama Islands instead of Corea, though there are no further data on the label, since, judging 

 by the distributive range of this species (known to include the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra 

 and Java), it is almost impossible to believe that the specimen was actually collected in Corea, as 

 has already been doubted by several authors {e.g. Moulton, Journ. Feder. Malay Stat. Mus., xi, 

 pp. 138 and 169, 1923). This species also has recently been recorded from Formosa, though I 

 have not seen the actual specimen (c/. Kato, Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa, xvii, p. 23, 1927). 



* Meddel. Goteborgs Mus. Zool. Afdel. 4 (Goteborgs Kungl. Vetenskaps- och Vitterhetssamhdlles 

 Handlingar, xvi, no. 2), p. 15, 1914. 



f For Anisops, see Wien. Ent. Zeit., xxiii, pp. 111-119, 1904. — T.E. 



% Kirkaldy bestowed this new name upon A. niveus Fieber, on the assumption that this 

 species was not identical with A. niveus (Fabricius) {Syst. Ent., p. 690, 1775). In the opinion of the 

 author in question, Notonecla ciliata Fabricius {Ent. Syst., Suppl., p. 52, 1798) and Anisops hyalinus 



