OF WASHINGTON. 



REMARKS ON THE GENITALIA OF PODISUS CYNICUS SAY 

 AND PODISUS BRACTEATUS FITCH. 



By OTTO HEIDEMANN. 



Mr. A. N. Caudell read a paper* " Some Insects from the 

 Summit of Pike's Peak, Found on Snow" before the Entomo 

 logical Society, of Washington, February 13, 1902. The insects 

 were collected by him and the specimens of the order Hemiptera 

 were turned over to me for determination. In his paper I have 

 given the following account in referring to numerous specimens 

 of the species Podisus cynicus Say : 



"Twelve adults, males and females. Six of these specimens 

 evidently belong to another species, probably Podisus bracteatus 

 Fitch. This species is considered by some American authors as 

 synonymous with Podisus cynicus Say. But the writer has 

 lately had occasion to examine Fitch's type-specimen, a female 

 (U. S. Nat. Mus.), and to compare the same with specimens of 

 P. cynicus Say, and there seems to him no doubt that P. brac 

 teatus Fitch will have to stand as a separate species. The 

 female genitalia are decidedly distinct in these two forms; there 

 are also differences in the shape of the bodv, which in P. brac 

 teatus is comparatively broader and shorter. However, more 

 material from other localities will have to be examined, and 

 especially the male characters, before a definite conclusion can 

 be reached." 



Since then I have had the opportunity of examining many 

 more specimens from different localities, and have found that the 

 male genitalia also are very distinct in these two species. This 

 character is evidently of most importance in separating the species 

 of the genus Podisus. because all the other characters formerly 

 used, such as the shape of pronotum, the punctures and colors, 

 are not constant in the specimens. The accompanying drawing 

 (Fig. i) will show more decidedly the differences between these 

 two species. 



In Podisiis cynicus, female (A, 2), the inner margins of the 

 side pieces of the first genital segment are cut straight, giving the 

 middle plate a square appearance ; while in P. bracteatus, on 

 the contrary (B, 2), these margins are obliquely formed, making 

 the middle plate distinctly triangular. The male genitalia differ 

 still more, as may be readily observed in the drawing. The 

 ventral terminal segment of the abdomen forms quite a deep 

 cavity, from which a kind of clasper protrudes on both sides of 

 the cavity, termed by Dr. D. Sharp "the superior lateral pro- 



*Proc. Ent. Soc., Washington, v, No. i, p. 80, 1902. 



