1020 FAMILY XXXIV. — OCHTERID^E. 



Family XXXIV. OCHTERID^ Kirkaldy, 1906, 149. 

 The Velvety Shore Bugs. 



Small oval, velvety bluish or black littoral Heteroptera, for- 

 merly classed with the Nerthridse. They have the upper sur- 

 face subconvex, relatively smooth ; head narrow, elongate, its 

 front declivent ; eyes oblique, strongly convex, their inner basal 

 half concave, the concavity filled by a lobe of the vertex ; ocelli 

 present ; beak long, reaching or surpassing hind coxse, its basal 

 joint very stout, remainder very slender ; antennae 4-jointed, 

 shorter than head, not concealed in repose ; pronotum subtrape- 

 zoidal, its sides moderately flattened, hind margin sinuate ; scu- 

 tellum large, triangular ; elytra normal, covering the abdomen, 

 its divisions all distinct, the cells of the membrane with cross 

 veins ; legs slender, subequal in length, all cursorial ; front and 

 middle tarsi 2-jointed, hind ones 3-jointed, the basal joint in all 

 very short. 



About a dozen species of the family are known, seven from 

 North America. In structure and habits they form a sort of 

 connecting link between the Saldidae and Nerthridse, living as 

 do the members of those families amongst the grass and weeds 

 on the margins of brooks and ponds. Of them Uhler says : 

 "Their rostrum is a dreadful instrument, sharp as the finest 

 needle, extremely thick and stout at base and a deadly probe 

 to the larvae of horse-fly or other insect which lives on the sur- 

 face of the ground in situations near water." The principal 

 literature pertaining to them is by Uhler, 1876, 1884 ; Stal, 

 1876; Champion, 1901 ; Barber, 1913. 



I. Ochterus Latreille, 1807, 142. 



This, the only genus of the family represented in this coun- 

 try, is sufficiently characterized above. Three of the five North 

 American species occur in the eastern states. 



KEY TO EASTERN* SPECIES OF OCHTERUS. 



a. Clavus concolorous with the corium. 

 b. Side margins of pronotum with a small pale spot near front angle; 

 membrane of elytra broad, normally developed. 



1163. AMERICANUS. 



bb. Side margins of pronotum wholly pale; membrane of elytra long 



and narrow. 1164. banksi. 



aa. Clavus wholly yellow. 1165. flaviclavus. 



