1026 FAMILY XXXV. — NERTHRID^E. 



ones, the granules often in part metallic yellow; under surface in great 

 part bluish-black, the prosternum, pleura of meso- and metasterna and 

 genital plate, in part or wholly, ivory-white; legs dull white distinctly 

 annulated with fuscous-black; beak, tarsal claws and spines of tibiae 

 black. Eyes less divergent than in oculatus. Pronotum with side mar- 

 gins of front lobe less deeply sinuate; humeral angles less broadly ex- 

 panded, their apex obtusely angled; disk of front lobe less uneven, the 

 ridges broader and lower. Elytra very slightly surpassing abdomen. 

 Connexivum narrowly exposed, the edges of its segments even, the hind 

 angles not prolonged, each bearing a tuft of long grayish hairs. Other 

 characters as in key. Length, 6.5 — 7.5 mm.; width, 4 — 4.5 mm. 



Ormond, Dunedin, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Bassenger, R. P. 

 Park and Moore Haven, Fla., November — April. Occurs on the 

 flats along the margins of lakes and wet-weather ponds. Much 

 more common in southern Florida than oculatus and distin- 

 guished by its smaller, more oblong form, darker general color 

 with spots of silvery-gray and metallic granules, narrower 

 head, less deeply sinuate margins of pronotum, more narrowly 

 exposed connexivum, longer front tarsal claws, etc. As in 

 oculatus the color is variable, depending upon that of its local 

 habitat, but the legs are always paler and the surface tinged 

 with bluish. 



1169 (1409). Gelastocoris variegatus (Guerin), 1844, 352. 



Broadly oval. Above bronzed brown with a metallic tinge; sides of 

 pronotum and elytra with prominent spots of silvery-gray scales, a large 

 spot of similar scales on middle of basal half of pronotum; inner half of 

 corium and costal area each with a subquadrate black spot near middle; 

 legs annulate with black and white; abdomen black; flanks of sterna and 

 genital plate white. Sides of pronotum deeply sinuate, those of front half 

 nearly straight and subparallel ; of posterior half foliaceous, finely cre- 

 nate in front, the humeral angles obtuse. Connexivum wholly concealed, 

 male, narrowly exposed, female. Length, 6 — 7 mm. 



Dunedin, Fla., Jan. 2. One pair taken from beneath a log 

 close to the water's edge on the bay beach. A prettily marked 

 and widely distributed species ranging, according to Uhler and 

 Champion, from Maryland, Florida and Texas south and west 

 throughout Mexico, the West Indies, Central and South 

 America. 



II. Glossoaspis 1 " 1 Blatchley, 1925, 50. 



Small broadly oval or subquadrate species having the head 

 immersed in thorax to eyes, vertex very short, front vertical, 



ini From the Greek t/lossa, "tongue," and aspis, "shield," referring to the tongue- 

 like apical portion of seutellum. 



