PREFACE. 
Tae number of Entomologists who take an interest in the 
British Hemiptera has considerably increased of late years, 
although I fear itis an order which must still be looked upon 
as more or less “neglected.” Itis hard to see why this 
should be, as many of our species will compare favourably 
in beauty and delicacy with those of any other order. 
This delicacy of course makes their collection rather diffi- 
cult, as they must not be handled, and their antennze and 
legs are very liable to get broken; but a very little care 
will enable the collector to bring back his specimens unin- 
jured, and when once he has got them home and set them, 
I feel sure he will be amply repaid for his trouble. 
On the Continent of Hurope a large amount of work has 
been done during the past ten years or so in this order, 
and the labours of Drs. Puton, Reuter, Horvath and 
others have cleared up a great deal of the confusion that used 
to exist in the European list. Dr. Reuter’s magnificent work, 
“Hemiptera Gymnocerata Hurope,’ and Dr. Puton’s 
“Synopsis des Hémiptéres Hétéroptéres de France” should 
be in the hands of all Hemipterists who can afford them. 
I have borrowed characters frequently from both of these, 
as well as from Dr. Horvath’s numerous papers, Messrs. 
Douglas and Scott’s standard work, “The British Hemip- 
tera,” and from the various works of Fieber, Stal, Thomson, 
Sahlberg, Lethierry, etc. 
The object of the present volume is to give short descrip- 
tions of our genera and species, accompanied by synoptical 
