PREFACE. 



The present Check List has been drawn off from a complete bibHo- 

 graphical and synonymical Catalogue of the Hemiptera of America 

 north of Mexico which was completed last winter and later will be pub- 

 lished by the University of California Press. Except for the references 

 to the literature of the subject this Check List gives most of the infor- 

 mation included in the larger Catalogue and includes the systematic ar- 

 rangement, full synonymy, the date of each name, and roughly the 

 distribution of each species. In the matter of geographical distribu- 

 tion it has seemed advisable to stop at the southern boundary of the 

 United States as the line of demarcation between fauna! areas is 

 certainly as distinct there as at any other political division farther 

 south and this course makes the List more comparable with the Ilen- 

 shaw List of the Coleoptera. 



This List begins with the so-called higher groups, an arrangement, 

 which although less philosophical than the inverse has much to recom- 

 mend it and also brings it into line with the Oshanin Katalog of palae- 

 arctic Hemiptera. I have omitted the three sternorhynchid families, 

 Aphididse, Aleurodidse and Coccidse, primarily because their collection 

 and study requires such dift'erent treatment from that of the other 

 Hemiptera that few students cover both fields. 



Classification. 



It has been my aim to incorporate into this list the results of the 

 latest and most complete studies on the classification of the Hemiptera 

 so far as they are known to me. In the Heteroptera Mr. Renter's 

 system published in 1912 has been followed very closely but in re- 

 verse order. This system includes only the families and higher 

 groups. In the minor groups I have endeavored to follow the most 

 satisfactor}' studies and monographs, supplementing them in places 

 with investigations of my own. The greatest difficulty was encoun- 

 tered in the Capsidse, or Miridse as we must learn to designate them. 

 In this large family Dr. Renter's studies include but a part of our 

 genera and I found it impossible in all cases to arrange them satis- 



