800 FAMILY XXIX. — MIRIDjE. 



KEY TO EASTERN - GENERA OF HALTICINI. 



a. Head with a well defined sharp basal margin; color black. 

 b. Antennae as long as or longer than body, joint 2 four or more times 

 longer than 1; hind femora greatly flattened, saltatorial; 

 brachypterous females oval and strongly convex; length less than 

 3.7 mm. I. Halticus, p. 800. 



bb. Antennae shorter, scarcely as long as elytra, joint 2 but little more 

 than three times the length of 1 ; hind femora not greatly flat- 

 tened; length more than 4 mm. 

 c. Antennas with short fine pubescence; head and body nearly gla- 

 brous, shining black; length more than 4 mm. 



II. Strongylocoris, p. 803. 

 cc. Antennae and head with long coarse black hairs, length of hairs 

 on third antennal thi - ee times the thickness of segment; macrop- 

 terous form with upper surface in part pale. 



III. Orthocephalus, p. 804. 

 aa. Head without a sharp basal margin; upper surface clothed with 

 appressed scale-like deciduous hairs intermixed with longer, more 

 erect ones ; color variable, but never black. 



IV. Parthenicus, p. 804. 



I. Halticus Hahn, 1831, 113. 



Short oval species having the head long, pointed, its front 

 vertical; antennas often longer than body, joint 1 cylindrical, 

 shorter than head, 2 linear, four or more times longer than 1, 

 3 and 4 filiform, united longer than 2 ; macropterous forms with 

 pronotum trapezoidal, nearly twice as wide at base as long; 

 elytra, oval, convex, surpassing abdomen, widest behind middle, 

 the divisions all present ; brachypterous forms with pronotum 

 subquadrate, but little wider than long; elytra shorter than 

 abdomen, strongly convex, corium alone present ; hind femora 

 long, stout, somewhat curved, the inner side flattened. Other 

 characters as in key and under tribal heading. Three species 

 occur in the eastern United States. 



key to eastern species of halticus. 



a. Body wholly devoid of deciduous scale-like pubescence; antenna? pale, 

 joints 3 and 4 slightly dusky; length, 2.7 mm. 840. apterus. 



aa. Body above with patches of deciduous scale-like pubescence. 



b. Smaller, length not more than 2 mm.; joint 2 of antennae yellowish 



at middle, blackish at tip and base. 841. bractatus. 



bb. Larger, length 2.5 or more mm.; joint 2 of antennae pale, sometimes 



fuscous at tip. 842. intermedius. 



840 (1119). Halticus apterus (Linnaeus), 1758, 438. 



Oblong-oval, robust, convex. Black, shining, clothed with fine, short 

 inclined hairs; femora black, their tips pale, tibiae and joints 1 and 2 of 



