Despite the recognized economic inrportance of many members of the order Hemiptera the majority of species in this group are not of great interest either to the economic entomologist or to the general collector. For this reason relatively little is known about the distribution of many species throughout Canada. This lack of information is evident with regard to records of captures which have been made in Alberta. During the many years in which the Entomological Record was published, less than 80 entries referred to Albertan Hemiptera. Of these, only eleven concerned the suborder Homoptera. The order, as a whole, has fared hardly better in the Canadian Entomologist. Apart from a list H. H. Knight, recording Anthochoridae and Miridae collected by J. H. McDunnough at Waterton and Nordegg, and three papers by the present writer discussing Fulgoridae and Chermidae which are native to Alberta, there are only incidental references to the fact that other species of Hemiptera have been captured anywhere in this province.

In routine work on leafhoppers of the genus Cicadula Zetterstedt (1840, p. 296) (=Cyperana DeLong, 1936, p. 218) it was impossible to name many specimens satisfactory. The chief reasons were the inadequacy of the descriptions in the literature and the fact that the extent of the individual and the local variation had not been appreciated. Because of the latter, some species apparently had been described under several names.

It is often desirable to establish the relationship between the amount of feeding of an insect and the prevailing meteorological conditions. With colonial insects, especially, it is difficult to determine visually whether members of a colony are feeding heavily, moderately, or lightly. If periodic measurements of frass drop are made, more reliable information may be obtained, for such measurements have proved to be reliable indicators of the intensity of feeding (Gornitz (1933); Monro (1935; Morris (1949), and Taranukha (1937)).