•28 On an anomalous genus 



when at rest : the membranous portion of the one, folding up- 

 on the same part in the other, and extending only as far as 

 the extremity of the body. 



In the genus of Heteropterous insects now under conside- 

 ration, the anomaly consists in having the anterior wings very 

 much elongated, and, when at rest, transversely folded ; a pe- 

 culiarity hitherto unnoticed, and which exists, as far as I am 

 aware, in no other group of insects. The posterior wings are 

 also present, and of small size. The only transverse folding 

 of the wings of any insects, occurs, as above stated, in the 

 posterior wings of Coleopterous and in Forficuloideous insects; 

 we will therefore enquire whether there be any circumstances 

 shewing an analogy, as regards their functions, between them 

 and the anterior wings of this Cimicoideous genus. The pos- 

 terior wings of the Coleoptera are large and transversely folded, 

 and it is consequently requisite for them to have a strong shield, 

 which exists in the united horny wing-cases. In this genus, 

 the anterior wings evidently perform the greatest share during 

 flight, being so much enlarged as to require a transverse fold; 

 they are, moreover, entirely membranous, thus rendering the 

 existence of a shield doubly requisite, and for which purpose 

 the scutellum is so much enlarged, as entirely to cover the 

 abdomen, thus becoming, as to its functions, the analogue of 

 the united corneous elytra of the beetle. As to the reason 

 why these anterior wings should be so much enlarged in size, 

 we have only to look at the peculiar shape of the body, which 

 is short and almost triangular, instead of being oblong or oval, 

 so that if these wings had retained their proportionate size, 

 they would have been so short as to have been unable to sup- 

 port the massy body of the insect during flight. 



The genus in question was first separated as a section of 

 Scutellera, by Latreille, that genus being divided into three 

 groups ; the names of Thyreocoris and Tetyra having been 

 previously respectively proposed by Schrank and Fabricius, 

 for the genus Scutellera, in its undivided state. Dr. Leach 

 subsequently gave Latreille's three divisions as genera, and ap- 

 plied to them, according to his usual irregular plan, the sy- 

 nonymical names of Scutellera, Tetyra, and Thyreocoris ; the 

 last of which is the subject of this memoir, having for its type 

 the Cimex globus of Wolff, a small species, which, according 

 to Stephens' Catalogue, has been found in this country. — 

 Laporte subsequently, without adopting Leach's nomencla- 

 ture, gave the Cimex globus as the type of a new genus, which 

 he named Coptosoma, and characterized it by the scutellum 

 being entire at the extremity, &c. &c. adding a second sub- 

 genus, under the name of Platycephala, which he particularly 



