380 HEMIPTERA-HETEROPTERA. 
elytra abruptly and subangularly dilated at the sides at about the middle of the marginal area ; the pale 
less widened. 
Length 6-7 millim. 
Hab. Nort America, New Mexico °, California 5,—Mexico 1~*, Lake of Texcoco 
(Dugés, in Mus. Brit.), Lago de Chalco. 
The above description has been taken from a large number of specimens sent by 
A. Dugés to the British Museum. C. mercenaria, as is well known, swarms in the 
large lakes near the city of Mexico, and a great deal has been written about it from an 
economic point of view. The eggs, larve, and imagines are collected and sold in Mexico 
as articles of food, it is said for both man and birds, and of late years they have even 
been imported into England for feeding cage-birds. Guérin* mentions two species, 
C. mercenaria and C. femorata, as being sold in this way, and a third is now added, the 
latter being a close ally of C. mercenaria. Thomas Gage, in 1625, appears to have 
been the first traveller who noticed that these insects were used for food in Mexico, 
and his observation has been confirmed by Say and others. Immense quantities of 
them have been captured on the wing towards evening. 
9. Corixa edulis, n. sp. (Tab. XXII. fig. 24, 3.) 
3. Elongate, smooth and shining, flavo-testaceous, the eyes black; the pronotum with from 10-12 very 
slender, transverse, black lines, which become fainter in front; the elytra with the clavus, except for a 
broad space at the base (the part covering the metanotum), corium, and membrane closely marked with 
short, transverse, undulate, irregular black lines, the markings so arranged as to form four irregular 
longitudinal series on each elytron, the marginal area pale, with a transverse streak beyond the middle 
and the apex slightly infuscate; the abdomen in great part testaceous; the legs entirely pale. Head 
with indications of a short median carina at the base, and with two interrupted rows of punctures on the 
vertex and some punctures near the eyes; the frontal depression very large, broad oval, moderately deep. 
Pronotum without carina. Elytra very minutely punctulate, moderately sinuate at the sides below the 
base. Anterior tibiee stout; pale spoon-shaped, produced and somewhat pointed at the tip. Intermediate 
tibia much longer than the tarsi. Ventral segments asymmetric on the left side. Strigil on the right side, 
oval, mnch longer than broad, with four rows of teeth. Fifth dorsal segment with a fringe of short hairs 
at the right outer angle. 
Length 7? millim. 
Hab. Mexico, Lake of Texcoco (Dugeés, in Mus. Brit.). 
Three males only have been seen of this species, two of them without heads, and 
one female in a bad state of preservation. Nearly allied to C. mercenaria, but more 
elongate, the pronotum without a carina in front, the elytral markings arranged in 
irregular longitudinal series, the pale and strigil differently formed. As in C. merce- 
naria, the elytra have a broad immaculate space at the base of the clavus. ‘This last- 
mentioned character-will separate the present species from C. inscripta. 
