NORTH AMERICAN APTERA. 293 



THE COSIHETID.E OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY CLARENCE M. WEED. 



The family Cosmetidte belongs to the suborder Mecostethi (Lania- 

 tores Thorell) of the order Opileonea. The first species from the 

 United States was described* by Thomas Say as Gonyleptes ornatum, 

 from specimens taken in Georgia and Florida. In 1868, Dr. H. C 

 Wood describedf a form from Texas under Say's name, concerning 

 the identity of which he expresses doubt. Several years later E. 

 Simon, in his Essai d'une Classification des Opileones Mecostethi, | 

 states that G. oniatiis probably belongs to the genus Cynorta, and 

 that the Texas species described by Wood is different from Say's 

 Florida species ; he proposes to call the former C Sayi. Finally, 

 in 1884, Wm. Sorensen, in his Opileones Laniatores Musei Hauni- 

 ensis,§ described as Cosmetus albolineatus, a species from New Orleans, 

 which he says perhaps belongs to the genus Cynorta. 



The present study is based upon a collection of nearly two hun- 

 dred specimens from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois and 

 Florida. Those from Illinois belong to the Illinois State Laboratory 

 of Natural History, while the others are in my own collection. The 

 accompanying plate was drawn by Miss Freda Detmers. 



Family COSMETID^. 



Two front pairs of legs with one claw ; two hind pairs with two 

 claws ; spiracles conspicuous ; hind coxse united to abdomen ; palpi 

 short, with femora compressed ; tibia lamellate on both margins ; 

 tarsus short, armed with a short, strong claw. 



The three species of tliis family as yet found in the United States 

 all appear to belong to the genus Cynorta of C. Koch, which is char- 

 acterized by Simon|| substantially as follows: 



Body usually longer thau broad, with scutum slightly convex and not de- 

 pressed in middle; scutum and ocular tubercle more or less tuberculate ; palpal 



"'■■■ Journ. Phila. Acad. 1st ser. v. 2, p. 68. 



t Comm. Essex Inst. v. vi, p. 37. 



t Ann. de la Soc. Ent. de Belgique, 1879, p. 200. 



§ Naturbist. Tidskrift, ser. iii, vol. xiv, p. 592. 



II Ann. Soc. Ent. de Belgique, 1879, p. 190. 



TBANS. AM. ENT. SOC. XX. OCTOBEE, 1893. 



