CYDNIDAE OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE FROESCHNER 343 



Harris, J. L. Laffoon, J. A. Slater, P. F. Bonhag, and J. C. M. Carvalho 

 for various aids, including discussions, opinions, testing of keys, and 

 the loan of literature. 



The illustrations are the artistic contributions of my wife, Elsie 

 Herbold Froeschner. The first four plates, those of the full figures, 

 were done in a carbon-dust technique in which carbon dust was 

 applied with a dry brush to a paper with a special chalked surface. 

 I am sincerely grateful for these beautiful illustrations, and also for 

 her aid in many ways. 



I gratefully acknowledge important financial help toward completion 

 of this manuscript for pubhcation that was furnished by the Research 

 Foundation at Montana State College through Dr. Leon Johnson. 



Review of the Literature 



The written history of this group began in 1803 with Fabricius' 

 description of the genus Cydnus, despite the fact that some of the 

 species had been described previously by Fabricius and Linnaeus in 

 the latter's inclusive genus Cimex. Cydnus originally contained 

 15 species, of which several (including the American species lugens 

 and umhraculatus) have subsequently been shown to be noncydnids. 

 In 1820 Billberg gave the first suprageneric recognition of the group 

 when he referred to it as the "Cydnides." This event has generally 

 been conceded to mark the historical beginning of the family name. 



The subsequent literature was mostly of a descriptive or listing 

 nature with few efforts at revisionary or synoptic work. Of the 

 latter, the important ones for cydnid studies in the Western Hemis- 

 phere began with Amyot and Serville's (1843) foundation for the 

 modern systematics of hemipterology in their "Histou"e Naturelle 

 des Inscctes, Hemipt^res." The work appears quite sound in assem- 

 bling and presenting a table to the known genera (eight of them new) 

 of the world. The genera, which in definition and extent seem quite 

 modern, were further arranged into two "Groupes" or subfamilies, 

 the "Cydnides" and the "Sehu-ides." The soundness of these two 

 categories is confirmed by their almost universal use by subsequent 

 authors. The next important works with a world scope were the 

 catalogs of Dallas (1851) and Walker (1867, 1868 3). Except for 

 Dallas' table to the known genera, both of these works were enumera- 

 tions with descriptions of new forms. 



During this latter period, 1851-1867, exclusively American studies 

 began to appear. These started with St^l's studies, one on the 

 Brazilian forms (1860) and one on the Mexican forms (1862). These 



« In this paper Walker described as a Cydnidae the new genus and species Mentisa smaragdina from 

 Brazil. Dr. China, after examination of the type in the British Museum, reported that it did not belong 

 to the Cydnidae but was a Pentatomidae in the restricted sense. 



