THE TERRESTRIAL TURTLE BUGS. 55 



middle; cheeks flattened, equalling or slightly surpassing tylus 

 but not contiguous in front of it ; beak reaching or surpassing 

 the middle coxae, its first joint scarcely reaching the base of 

 bucculae ; pronotum about one-third longer than head, divided 

 transversely near middle by a rather wide, ill-defined groove, 

 the front portion declivent, much the narrower, and bearing 

 three obtuse tubercles in front of which is a second narrow 

 less distinct groove or furrow ; hind portion strongly convex, 

 not declivent, much less uneven; scutellum as in Oncosygia; 

 osteole in the form of a short tube, not reaching middle of its 

 supporting plate, the latter with numerous short ridges on its 

 basal half. 

 Four species are known from the eastern United States. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF PODOPS. 



a. Tooth or projection near humeral angle of pronotum very promi- 

 nent, subcylindrical, surpassing the humerus by a distance equal to 

 length of eye, its apex and front edge curved; margin of pro- 

 notum in front of humeral tooth deeply sinuate or concave. 

 b. Lobe or tooth at front angle of pronotum very large, surpassing the 

 eye by one-third or more of its length, its apex obtuse ; beak 

 reaching or slightly surpassing hind coxae, its second and third 

 joints subequal, each one-half longer than fourth; femora wholly 

 piceous-black; length 7 — 9 mm. 17. dubius. 



bb. Tooth at front angle of pronotum much smaller, not surpassing 

 eye, its apex subacute; beak scarcely reaching middle coxae, its 

 second joint nearly as long as third and fourth united; femora 

 annulated with paler; much smaller, not over 5.5 mm. 



18. PENINSULARIS. 



aa. Tooth near humeral angle of pronotum much less prominent, but 

 slightly surpassing the humerus, subtriangular, its apex obtuse 

 or subacute; margin of pronotum in front of tooth feebly sinuate 

 or straight. 

 c. Larger, 6 — 6.5 mm.; middle of abdomen sparsely irregularly punc- 

 tate; margin of pronotum between apical and humeral projec- 

 tions distinctly not deeply sinuate; outer apical angles of male 

 genital plate produced and visible from above beyond the apex 

 of scutellum. 19. cinctipes. 



cc. Smaller, not over 5.5 mm.; abdomen deeply and uniformly punc- 

 tate throughout; margin of pronotum between the projections 

 straight; outer apical angles of male genital plate short, ob- 

 tuse, not visible from above. 20. parvulus. 



17 (73). Podops dubius (Palisot de Beauvois), 1805, 33. 



Oblong-oval, large for the genus. Dark reddish- or grayish-brown, 

 tinged with piceous; antennae reddish brown, the terminal joint piceous; 



