Americana 



VOL. r. 



BROOKLYN, MM, 1885. 



NO. 2. 



Classification of Hemiptera. 



By Herbert Osborx. 



Authors are by no means agreed as to the exact Hmits of the order 

 Hemiptera or rather as to the number of groups to be included in this 

 varied order. Neither are they agreed as to the natural affiniiies or the 

 relative rank of the groups and sub-groups they place in it. 



Mr. P. R. Uhler, our best American Hemipterist includes in the 

 group only the Heteroptera, Homoptera and Parasita, excluding the 

 Ma/lophaga and the Thvsanoptera\ these latter groups have been includ- 

 ed by many authorities and Mr. Packard still maintains on embryological 

 grounds that they should be included. 



This being the condition, and as many more observations both em- 

 bryological and morphological seem necessary to definitely settle the 

 question at issue, we are forced to content ourselves with systems more 

 or less artificial. 



In undertaking to present a svnoptical arrangement of the group 

 therefore, I shall not consider it in place to discuss these doubtful matters, 

 but simply endeavor to present in conden.sed form what seems to me the 

 most natural grouping, and that which will afford students the most 

 ready means of arranging their collections. 



I have followed most nearly the arrangement given by Mr. Uhler in 

 his chapter on Hemiptera in the "Standard Natural History" but am in- 

 debted also to the works of Westwood, Packard, and others. While I 

 have verified all points possible, I have in many instances been obliged 

 to rely upon various authorities, well aware that the discovery of new 

 species must frequently modify the definition of the groups to which they 

 naturally must be referred, and while finding occasion to introduce oc- 

 casional characters in sei)arating the families, based on observations of 



