CLASSIFICATION AND SYNONYMY. O 



the Coleoptera or Orthoptera. Many of our species have been 

 described by Stal, Reuter, Signoret, Horvath, Bergroth and 

 other European authors in foreign periodicals. Up to 1910 

 about the only Americans who had studied and described the 

 species of this country were Say, Uhler, Van Duzee and Heide- 

 mann. Since that date a flood of literature by specialists in 

 certain groups has appeared. However the only work cover- 

 ing all the known species of a certain area of this country 

 is the "Hemiptera of Connecticut," issued under the super- 

 vision of Dr. W. E. Britton in 1923, and which I have found of 

 much aid. 



As in my former works, this manual has been prepared 

 mainly for the use of the tyro and not for the specialist who 

 has a large library at his command. For that reason it has 

 been couched mainly in simple and easily understood language. 

 Characterizations of all families and of most genera are given 

 in some detail, with keys leading up to their treatment. Keys 

 to and full descriptions of all species are then given in proper 

 sequence. These keys are based on the more salient and 

 important structural or color characters separating the groups 

 or species to which they pertain, the primary object being 

 to give to the student a work by which he can readily obtain 

 the scientific name of the specimen in hand. In most in- 

 stances, to avoid repetition and save space, the characters 

 mentioned in the keys are not repeated in the descriptions 

 which follow, and the keys should, therefore, always be used 

 in connection with the descriptions. Moreover, the characters used 

 and statements made both in keys and descriptions are for the 

 most part to be considered as applying only to those species 

 occurring in the territory covered by this work. They may be, 

 and doubtless are, capable of much wider application, but it 

 is not safe to assume that such is the case. 



Following the description of each species are notes on its 

 local habitat, general distribution, food habits, etc. These 

 notes are based not only upon my field accession notes, more 

 than 4,000 in number on the Heteroptera, but also on the data 

 accompanying specimens which have been loaned me for study 

 and on the published local lists and other works cited in the 

 Bibliography near the end of the volume. The synonymy of 

 numerous species is, however, so much confused that the gen- 

 eral range, as given, especially where it extends beyond the ter- 

 ritory covered, is to be considered as open to correction. The 



