Vol. XXvi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 2(X) 



Thus it is by no means a vulgar name as suggested by Van 

 Duzee. 7 To conform with modern usage the termination must be 

 changed to -idae, but this cannot affect the nomenclatorial stand- 

 ing of the term. Similarly subfamily and tribal names must now 

 end in -inae and -ini respectively, but no one thinks of ignoring 

 the subfamilies and tribes of Stal and Reuter because these au- 

 thors used the terminations -ina and -aria in naming those 

 groups. 8 Reuter, Bergroth, and others 9 have adopted the 

 name Miridae, and we may well follow them since their view 

 seems to be supported by the evidence, from whichever stand- 

 point it may be viewed. 



As a basis for this review of the external characters of the 

 Miridae, I have used a common and widely distributed species, 

 introducing such comparative material as I have found avail- 

 able. Most of the technical terms will be found equally ap- 

 plicable in the other families of Heteroptera. Earlier treat- 

 ments of the subject may be found in the writings of the au- 

 thors cited, especially in the works of Reuter, 10 which are 

 fundamental for the study of this family. 



THE HEAD. (Plate vii, fig. i.) 



The term tylus (dypeus) may well be applied, as in other 

 families of Heteroptera, to the anterior median portion of the 

 head. 11 The triangular pieces on each side of the tylus may 

 for the same reason be called the juga (the Jochstiicke of 

 Reuter). The lorae (Kopfsugel, maxillary laminae 12 } lie just 

 inferior to the juga. from which they are set off by an im- 

 pressed line. Below and posteriorly they may be fused with 

 the genae (lorae confluent], as in fig. i; or they may be 

 marked off by a fine line (lorae discrete), as in fig. 9. The 

 genae ( IVangen) are largely occupied above by the eyes. Be- 



7 Can. Ent, xlvi, 1914, p. 386. 



8 A parallel case in the nomenclature of the Formicidae has been 

 brought to my attention by Dr. W. M. Wheeler. 



9 Van Duzee (in lift.} now accepts this view. 



10 See especially Acta Soc. Sci. Fenn., xxxvii, No. 3, 1910, p. 84 (Phyl. 

 u. Syst. Mir.) 



11 For a discussion of the true morphological nature of these parts 

 see Muir and Kershaw, Psyche, xviii, 1911, p. i. 



'- See Tower, Ann. Ent. Soc. Am., vi, 1913, p. 427. Anatomy of the 

 Squash Bug. 



