444 FAMILY XIII. — THAUMASTOCORID^E. 



cotton by sucking the juices of the young bolls, the injury 

 often resulting in staining the fibre of the mature bolls by the 

 injured seeds. Ranges from South Carolina to Alabama, the 

 Bahamas and West Indies. For a full account of its habits see 

 Riley and Howard (1889) . 



401 (635). Dysdercus obscuratus Distant, 1883, 230. 



"Closely allied to D. flavo-limbatus Stal, but differing in having the 

 anterior lobe of pronotum (excluding the anterior and lateral margins) 

 black with a reddish spot each side; beneath the ground color of the 

 abdomen is black and not red, the femora piceous. Long. 10 — 15 mm." 

 (Distct)it) . 



Described from Costa Rica. Recorded by Van Duzee, 1917, 

 from "S. St.," with a note "Reference for this record lost." 

 Judging from the above brief description and the figure of Dis- 

 tant it is probably but a color variety of D. mimus (Say) . 



Family XIII. THAUMASTOCORID^E Reuter, 1912b, 58. 



The Royal Palm Bugs. 



Small, flattened, oblong-oval insects, having the head porrect ; 

 beak short, 3-jointed ; antennae 4-jointed ; ocelli present, widely 

 separated ; elytra entire, wider and longer than abdomen, mem- 

 brane without veins ; osteola invisible ; coxae globular, widely 

 separated; tarsi 2- jointed ; venter of male consisting of eight 

 segments besides the genital, of female with seventh segment 

 covering the genital. 



Three genera are known, two from Australia, the other 

 represented in Cuba and Florida by a single species. 



I. Xylastodoris Barber, 1920, 100. 



In addition to the family characters mentioned, this genus 

 has the head nearly as wide as long, tylus and cheeks subequal 

 in length, with sides parallel ; bucculae low, widely separated ; 

 beak not reaching middle of prosternum ; pronotum wider than 

 long, its margins expanded, slightly elevated ; clavus with sides 

 parallel ; commissure shorter than scutellum ; tarsal claws fur- 

 nished with arolia; male with seven pairs of spiracles on the 

 ventral surface. 



402 ( — ). Xylastodoris luteolus Barber, 1920, 101. 



Oblong-oval, strongly depressed. Color a uniform pale yellow; eyes 

 reddish-brown ; apical half of fourth antennal, tip of beak and usually 

 the apex of scutellum, fuscous-brown. Head with apex subtruncate, 



