316 FAMILY IX. — ARADID.E. 



247 (395). Aradus nicer Stal, 1873, 137. 



Broadly oval. Black; basal expansion of corium (in macropterous 

 form) and apical angles of connexivals obscurely pale. Head as broad as 

 long; tylus short, extending slightly beyond first antennal, its sides com- 

 pressed; impressions of vertex oval, shallow; antenna? thick, basal joint 

 very broad, second slightly longer than third which is twice the length 

 of fourth; beak reaching hind border of eyes. Pronotum very short, in 

 brachypterous form half as long as head, side margins straight, slightly 

 reflexed, their edges granulate, carinae evident but feebly developed. Scu- 

 tellum triangular, its sides feebly elevated, disk concave. Elytra in ma- 

 cropterous form evenly narrowed from the basal expansion, exposing the 

 connexivum, reaching genital segment, veins of membrane reticulate; in 

 brachypterous form but slightly longer than scutellum, membrane absent. 

 Male, fifth ventral slightly shorter than sixth, genital segment short, 

 strongly convex; female, hind margin of dorsal genital sinuate, concavely 

 curved at middle. Length, 5 — 6.5 mm. (PI. Ill, fig. 58). 



Lakehurst, N. J., April 25; Nova Scotia, June (Davis). 

 Southern Pines, N. Car., January (Brimley) . Ranges from 

 Nova Scotia and New England southwest to South Carolina; 

 known also from Colorado, Texas and Mexico. Stal's types 

 were from South Carolina, but the insect remained unknown to 

 American collectors until Heidemann (1901, 389) discovered 

 it in some numbers in the rubbish and decaying matter under 

 the loose bark of pine trees near Washington, D. C. He observed 

 the winged male mating with the unwinged female and also 

 both sexes in the unwinged state. 



Subfamily II. MEZIRIN^E. 



Flat-bugs of medium or small size, having the head short, 

 depressed, usually wider behind the eyes than in front of them ; 

 tylus short, rarely exceeding apex of first joint of antennse; 

 beak very short, enclosed in a groove on under surface of head ; 

 prosternum and abdomen without a groove or sulcus ; prono- 

 tum trapezoidal or subquadrate, its side margins not explanate 

 or reflexed, disk rarely with carinae; scutellum short, broad, 

 its margins but slightly elevated ; elytra without basal ex- 

 pansion of corium, confined within the boundaries of the disk 

 of abdomen ; connexivum very broad, fully exposed ; under sur- 

 face flat ; all the coxae moderately separated ; trochanters free 

 from the femora ; abdominal spiracles placed at equal dis- 

 tances from the front and hind margins of the segments. The 

 subfamily is mainly tropical or subtropical in distribution and 

 comprises eight North American genera, seven of which are 

 represented in our territory. 



