788 FAMILY XXIX. — MIRID,£. 



and that it "presents all the varieties of color and marking pos- 

 sible to its plan of development." In New Jersey it has been 

 recorded by Dickerson and Weiss (1916, 302) as doing much 

 damage to four kinds of ash. They give a full account of its 

 life history. The early records of the species were mostly 

 under the name Neoborus saxeus Dist., a species described from 

 Panama. 



As above stated, the color in amcenus varies greatly with age, 

 the red markings becoming blackish in older specimens. Reu- 

 ter (loc. cit.) described five color varieties. These all breed on 

 ash, and so merge into one another that the names are almost 

 superfluous. One of them, palmeri, was raised to specific rank 

 by Knight. The typical form is the one above described. 

 Knight separates the other two found in the east as follows : 



KEY TO COLOR VARIETIES OF NEOBORUS AMCENUS. 



a. Chiefly blackish, lateral and median vittae on pronotal disk, scutel- 

 lum except basal angles and median line at base, and corium more 

 or less pale; membrane pale. 823a. var. signatus. 



aa. Chiefly black, cuneus and sometimes narrow base of corium pale; 

 scutellum pale yellowish; membrane pale fumate, paler bordering 

 apex of cuneus. 823b. var. scutellaris. 



823a (1041c). Neoborus amcenus signatus (Reuter), 1909, 49. 



Color as in key; clavus and corium blackish, tinged with reddish, the 

 area along the claval vein and outer basal half of corium yellowish; 

 cuneus pale translucent, dusky at tip; membrane pale fuscous, veins, 

 spot on larger cell and margins along cuneus, paler. 



Tyler, Minn., June 23 (Minn. Univ. Coll.). Recorded only 

 from New York and Washington, D. C. 



823b (1041d). Neoborus amcenus scutellaris (Reuter) , 1909, 49. 



Form and size of amcenus. Head chiefly black. Pronotum wholly 

 black or with collar, edges and vague discal stripes pale; scutellum lemon- 

 yellow, its base often black; basal half of corium often in part or wholly 

 pale; apical fourth of hind femora brownish; under surface except 

 genital plate wholly shining black. 



Marion Co., Ind., May 30 — June 4. Beaten from ash. De- 

 scribed from Kansas. Range the same as the typical form. 



824 (1041a). Neoborus palmeri Reuter in Van Duzee, 1908, 112. 



More elongate than amcenus. Straw-yellow, strongly shining with a 

 brownish gloss; tylus and an oblong spot below base of each antenna 

 piceous; pronotum with a narrow marginal line each side and a broader 

 submarginal stripe, the latter reaching from callus to base, dark brown; 

 clavus and base of scutellum tinged with pale brown, corium with dark 



