THE FLAT-BUGS. 287 



the veins darker ; antennas, beak and legs brown ; under surface red, 

 pubescent as above and flecked with fuscous or red dots. Fuscous dots 

 of upper surface each bearing a short erect brown seta. Pronotum with 

 thickened side margins narrower and more strongly reflexed and trans- 

 verse groove more shallow than in hsematoloma. Membrane of elytra 

 long, in male surpassing abdomen by one-half its length. Length, 11 — 

 12 mm. 



Brownsville, Tex. (U.S. Nat.Mus.). A neotropical species, 

 recorded by Van Duzee ( 1917, 127) from Florida, but no other 

 mention of its occurrence in that State can be found. Ranges 

 south through the West Indies to Brazil. Stal (1870, 227) 

 mentions a variety with elytra abbreviated and membrane rudi- 

 mentary. The description of Jadera sola (Dallas) (1852, 463) 

 differs in no particular from that of sanguinolenta, and his name 

 is very probably a synonym. 



Family IX. ARADID^ Spinola, 1840, 157. 

 The Flat-bugs. 



Brown or blackish Heteroptera of small size and oval, strong- 

 ly flattened form, having the head porrect; tylus prominent, 

 convex above, concave beneath to receive and protect the setae 

 of the mouth parts ; ocelli absent ; eyes prominent ; antennae 

 4-jointed, usually shorter than head and pronotum united ; beak 

 4-jointed, lying in a groove between the bucculas, the first joint 

 very short ; pronotum varying in shape, its disk with usually 

 two or more carinae; clavi narrowed toward apex, rarely ex- 

 ceeding the tip of scutellum, the latter usually elongate-triangu- 

 lar or subpentagonal ; membrane with few or sometimes (Pic- 

 tinus and Aneurus) no veins; abdomen much broader than the 

 wings, with usually its disk only covered by the elytra ; osteola 

 rarely visible; tarsi 2-jointed, without arolia. 



These insects, like the cockroaches, have become strongly 

 adapted for a life beneath the closely fitting bark or in the nar- 

 row crevices of wood, especially that of trees which have re- 

 cently died or have been felled but a year or two. They are for 

 the most part gregarious, living in small colonies comprised of 

 both adults and nymphs in various stages. When uncovered 

 they remain quiescent for a long time, depending seemingly up- 

 on their hues of wood-brown or gray to shield them from dis- 

 covery. In our northern states they hibernate in both the 

 mature and nymph stages, often protected only by the shelter 

 of bark. Here they are oftentimes frozen solid for weeks, only 



