122 [May, 



As this last statement is not quite accurate, T begto refer to what 

 I wrote, as early as 1875, on the habits of Capsids, in my work, Revisio 

 Critica Capsinarum, p. 85 : — "'On the life and food of (,^apsids, close 

 examinations are still wanting;. Burineister, Amyot and Serville, and 

 Sahlber^, however, state that their food consists ])rincipally of small 

 insects, and Kaltenbach notes that, concealed in the fissure of the 

 bark, PhytocoriH tilice will lie in wait for small larvae and leaf-lice. I, 

 myself, once brought home a nymph of Leploplerna Jerruf/ata in a 

 glass tube, in which, also, another little Hemipteron was enclosed ; 

 the followini; morning I found the latter sucked dry. Further, 

 I once observed a PJnqioqnaihus ( = Gldnmijdatiis) piilicnriiis on the 

 look-out for small Fodiirids. Thna, it is settled that, at least, some 

 kinds of Ca])sids live on animal juices. The relation of ant-like 

 Capsids to ants is still nnaecounted for, but their mimicry, or at least 

 that of Sy.steUonoiiiH, seems to indicate that they live on animal food. 

 The residence of an animal in the colonies of ants can scarcely be 

 explained, if we suppose it to live on vegetable juices." According 

 to Douglas (Ent. Mo. Mag., ii, p. :]0), ,Si/.^feIJonof/is probably feeds oji 

 the larvae or [)upie of ants or on the food they bring home. E. 

 Breddin says (in lSi)(J) in his interesting paper, " Nachahmnngser- 

 scheinungen bei Rhynchoten " (Zeitschr. fiir Naturwiss., Ixix, p. 83), 

 concerning the myrmecoid Capsids : — " At any rate, an imitation of 

 this kind would, however, suggest that the Hemipteron and the ant 

 live together, and this will scarcely be comprehensible unless we 

 assume that certain members of a pronounced phytophagous Hemi- 

 pteral family have entirely altered their mode of life, so as to be able 

 to hunt for animal food after the same manner as the ants. Indeed, 

 the vine on which 1 have yearly observed Filophortis clavatus is 

 closely covered with Coccus, and Pilophorus cinnamopterus, Kbm., 

 and P. confiis-u.'i, rvbm., according to the observations of Puton and 

 Ueuter, whi(di 1 am able to confirm, will occur particularly on such 

 plants as are closely covered with Aphids. Mi/rmrcoris, however, 

 which has repeatedly been observed in, or near, ajit colonies, may, 

 perhaps, feed on dead ants." 



!Som(! direct obsei-vations on Capsids living on vegetable food may 

 still be added, in my paper. On lln^ Study of Mimetic Ilemiptern 

 and the History of their Way of Living (Of v. Finska Vet. Soc. 

 Eorh., xxi, lB7S-7n, p. 161)), appears the following : -'■ It may be 

 mentioned, here, that some of the Ca|)sids known to be vegetable 

 suckers, feed, however, on animal juices also. Thus, Professor Strd 

 informed me that he was once stung by a Fliylus melanocephahts, and 



