ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 



AND 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION, 



ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA. 



VOL. VIII. 



NOVEMBER, 1897. 



No. 9. 



CONTENTS: 



Webster Halticus bractatus 209 



Snyder Utah revisited Idaho and 



Wyoming 211 



Knaus The Lachnosterna of Kansas.. 214 

 Wenzel Notes on some of the salt 



meadow insects of New Jersey 218 



Editorial 220 



Economic Entomology 221 



Notes and News 224 



Entomological Literature 226 



Doings of Societies 230 



HALTICUS BRACTATUS Say. 

 By F. M. WEBSTER. 



Of the many unique forms to be found among the Hemiptera, 

 not the least interesting is the diminutive Halticus bractatus. As 

 will be observed from the accompanying illustration, the male, 

 Fig. i, has the usual Capsid form, while the female, Fig. 2, is 

 entirely different in appearance, and might easily be taken not 

 only for a different species, but as belonging to a different order 

 of insects. In the dried specimen the wings usually are slightly 

 spread, which has given to the figure of the female a slightly 

 unnaturally robust appearance. As I have elsewhere stated,* 

 the female mimics a small flea beetle, Ch&tocnoiia parcepunctata, 

 even to the extent of being saltatorial, whereas the male can only 

 make his way about in the ordinary way. 



The insect feeds during all of its development on the upper 

 surface of the leaves of different plants, notably the red clover, 

 which it causes to become whitened in color, at first in spots 

 giving the leaves a clouded appearance, and later nearly the 

 entire leaf becomes discolored in this way. The young are of a 

 pale green color, the wing pads of the pupa being darker, so 



* Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario, p. 83, 1896. 



