THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 369 



NOTES ON THE CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE 

 OF THE HEMIPTEROUS SUPERFAMILY AHROIDEA. 



BV Cx. W. KIRKALDV, HONOLULU, H. L 



Since the final impression of my '"List of the genera of the Pagiopodous 

 Hemiptera Heteroptera," etc. (a), I have received from my friend, Dr. 

 O. M. Renter, a very vahiable summary of his most recent thoughts on 

 the Classification of the Miridie (b). 



Dr. Renter's polemic has been evoked by the Hemipterous work of 

 Mr. Distant, particularly that dealing with the Miridse (or '■ Capsidae ") 

 in the Biologia Centrali- Americana, Heteroptera, Vol. I, and the 

 Fauna of British India, Rhynchota, Vol. II. In the latter Mr. Distant 

 avers that Renter's classification of the Miridae '• is more reflective of 

 personal opinion, and contrived for the purposes of entomological 

 arrangement, than exhibiting an evolutionary or philosophical conception" 

 (pp. 412-3), and thereupon divides the Miridae into two subfamilies, 

 characterized by the presence or absence of " a longitudinal incision or 

 sulcation on the upper surface " of the head (!). 



Renter declares that this emphatic judgment is as unjustified as it is 

 untrue, and that it is, at least, unseemly for an author whose studies on 

 Hemipterous systematics are so superficial as are tiiose of Mr. Distant, to 

 pass so judicial a sentence. 



The learned Finlander proceeds to refute Mr. Distant in great detail, 

 first tracing the evolution of our knowledge of the classification, from. 

 Fieber, in 1858, onwards; he next discusses, at considerable length, 

 various salient points in the characteristic structure of the family, and 

 presents two new synopses, and a genealogical tree, of the divisions. This 

 " Classification " is without doubt one of the most important of the 

 Heteropterous memoirs that has appeared for a long time, and represents 

 the almost mature fruits of Dr. Renter's many years of assiduous devotion 

 to his favourite family. It is impossible to summarize here the fifty-eight 

 pages, further than to reproduce, in English, the analytical table of the 

 accepted divisions ; the form of the table has been altered, while 

 preserving its matter. The tribe Lygaeoscytini (c) and the genus 



(a) Tr. Amer. Ent. Soc, XXXII, 117-56 (1906). 



(b) " Hemipterologische Spekulationen, I, Die Klasslfikation der Capsiden," 

 Festschr, fiir Palmen, Xo. i, pp. 1-58, and a i^enealo^ical Table. [Dated 1905, 

 at Helsing-fors, but probably not issued till 1906.] 



(c) I prefer the ending "m/" to "fl-rm," as more in line with general 

 nomenclature. 



November, 1906 



