SUBFAMILY V. — PIRATING. 



557 



aa. Abdomen in part or wholly red; ocelli much larger, yellow; elytra 

 entire. 532. abdominalis. 



531 (745). Melanolestes picipes (Herrich-Schaeffer), 1848, 62. 



Elongate-oval. Black or piceous-black; antennae and legs piceous. 

 Interocular area of head, viewed from above, broader than the eyes. 

 Hind portion of pronotum very finely rugose-granulate, the lateral angles 

 rounded. Elytra of females often abbreviated to mere pads which do 

 not surpass the second dorsal. Length, 15 — 20 mm. (Figs. 136 and 137). 



Fig. 136. Melanolestes picipes (H. S.), macropterous male X 3. Fig. 137. 

 Same, brachypterous female. (After Lugger). 



Frequent throughout Indiana, more so in the southern coun- 

 ties ; also throughout Florida. In Indiana it is found in all 

 months of the year, hibernating singly or in pairs in dry up- 

 land woods and fields, beneath logs, the sides of which are 

 deeply buried in leaves and mold. In spring and summer it 

 occurs beneath stones, loose bark, piles of weeds and other 

 cover. In Florida it is more often found beneath cover along 

 the "margins of ponds and lakes than in dryer places. Of 20 

 specimens at hand 12 are fully winged, ten of which are males ; 

 of the eight with wings abbreviated all are females, so that 

 wing abortion appears to be largely a sexual character. 



The known range of M. picipes extends from Quebec and New 

 England west to Minnesota and south and southwest to Florida, 



