250 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. xxvii. 



lished have, for the most part, been put forth tentatively as " prelimi- 

 nary " studies, or under similar designations. 



In habit the several species are generally more or less gregarious; 

 and while many undoubted species seem to have a wide distribution 

 across the continent, others appear to be extremely local in their 

 habitat. Besides it is believed that the individuals of a colony, 

 although good fliers, seldom stray far from their particular host 

 plant; so that such a colony of a single species persisting through 

 many generations might easily give rise to a local race which, while 

 its individuals may readily be separated from the typical form by 

 some recognizable feature, still presents no structural or other char- 

 acter which would warrant specific separation. Such a race, for in- 

 stance, appears to be found in Atymna qaerci Fitch, where in a com- 

 paratively long series taken by me in Orange County, N. Y., the black 

 of the typical male of that species is replaced by a reddish pink. 

 Similar instances of racial forms will be called to mind in the other 

 orders of insects. But where insects taken in the same general local- 

 ity and environment, but from different food plants, present differing 

 characters which, however slight, are constant with respect to their 

 particular host, the recognition of such differences as entitling their 

 possessors to be regarded as specifically distinct seems to be war- 

 ranted. 



The foregoing considerations find their application in Ophidcrma 

 Fairmaire, an exclusively North American genus of comparatively 

 few species, yet presenting the confusion so prevalent in the family. 

 Excluding Ophiderma mus Champion, a Central American species 

 whose proper assignation to this genus has met with question, there 

 remain seven species which are listed in VanDuzee's Check List of 

 Hemiptera ; and since its publication two others have been described, 

 making a total of nine for the genus, of which six are from the east- 

 ern United States. Of these six one may prove to be the male of 

 another, thus cutting our local list to five ; to which, however, two 

 other well-characterized and hitherto undescribed species should be 

 added, as well as a form entitled to at least varietal recognition. 



The species on which the genus is founded is Ophiderma sala- 

 mandra Fairmaire, the largest in the genus. Salamandra is found 

 in the adult stage near New York City from the second week in June 

 till the second week in August, and in my experience almost exclu- 



