-189 -A Re-Description of Ripersia corynephori Sign. by A. REYNE Ripersia corynephori was described by Signoret in 1875 as a new species of Coccid which had been collected by his friend Mr Perris on the grass Corynephorus canescens. It is the type species of the genus Ripersia, but after Perris' discovery*) it has never been found again in France. This is a most unfortunate circumstan-ce in view of the present confusion in the systematic literature of Ripersia and allied genera. In Fernald's catalogue with supple-ments (1903'— 1915) 51 species of Ripersia are recorded. The na-mes of 45 new species are mentioned in the Zoological Record 1915 — 1 948, so that the present number of .Ripersfa-species described is about a 100. Of the allied genus Trionymus more than 60 species have been described. Signoret's description of the new genus reads as follows : "Genre Ripersia nobis. Nous avons créé ce genre pour les espèces de Dacty-lopites qui offrent six articles aux antennes pour la larve embryonnaire et pour la femelle arrivée à l'état adulte, la larve mâle conservant le nombre sept, le plus ordinaire dans tout le groupe. Les autres caractères sont ceux des Dacty-lopius ; cependant nous pouvons encore ajouter l'absence des digitules des tarses." The only significant characteristic in this description is the 6-segmented antenna in the adult female. Ferris (1918) states: '' no worse confusion than that at present displayed in the genus Ripersia. The real nature of this genus cannot be determined, for it was originally based simply upon the 6-segmented antennae of the adult female of the type species and this is practically the only significant fact that we possess in regard to this species. As at present understood the genus is made to include almost any species with 7-segmented antennae occurring on grass, roots or with ants. Even though the descriptions of practically every one of the North American species are hopelessly inadequate, it is obvious that the group thus obtained is a most heterogeneous assemblage and it is for all practical purposes meaningless." Morrison (1926) is of the same opinion: "The genus Riper-sia is little more than a dumping ground for species of mealy bugs, having 6-segmented antennae and living on Gramineae, or on the roots of other plants or in ants' nests". Some authors have tried to re-define the genus Ripersia (Green 1926, Kiritshenko 1935, Goux 1940), but as the genotype is not known such de-finitions must remain more or less arbitrary. *) E. Perris (1808—1878), who was a member of the "Société Entomologi-que de France" since 1838, did most of his collecting work around Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) where he was connected with the prefecture since 1836. (Cf. his biography in Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1879, p.. 373—388). I suppose that R. corynephori Sign, was collected near Mont-de-Marsan like Trionymus Perns« (Sign.) (Signoret, loc. cit., p. 337). The material from the Vienna Museum, mentioned hereafter, was labelled : Gallia meridion.
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