212 flemiptera-Lleteroptera. 
other family in which the generic characters are so in- 
definite, and this peculiarity makes it a most difficult 
one to work. Dr. Reuter, in his magnificent “ He- 
miptera Gymnocerata Europe,’ has divided the family 
into sixteen divisions, of which we have representatives in 
this country of ten. I have not been able to utilize these 
divisions, as they are not of equal value to those employed 
to divide the other families, being strictly equivalent to the 
subdivisions of the subfamilies. I have, however, as much 
as possible, kept to his arrangement, although the difficulty 
of making an analytical table has obliged me to depart 
from that arrangement in the table itself. I do not feel 
certain that Pithanus is naturally placed with the Conti- 
nental genera Myrmecoris and Camponotidea and dissociated 
from Allodapus, dtorhinus, ete., nor that Bryocoris and 
Monalocoris should be inserted between Leptopterna and 
Pantilius, but Dr. Reuter’s knowledge of the family is 
so extensive that I do not feel justified in proposing altera- 
tions in the arrangement he has adopted. 
The chief characteristics of the family are the following :— 
Integument generally of a softer nature than in the 
other families, some of the species being extremely soft 
and fragile ; shape very variable, but usually of a more 
or less elongate oval, varying to short oval. There are 
many species, however, which are elongate and more 
or less parallel-sided, and many which are narrow in 
front and considerably dilated posteriorly ; as a rule, the 
species are more or less convex. The head is generally 
smooth and declivous, but in some genera nearly horizontal 
or perpendicular; the eyes are generally placed near the 
pronotum, but in a few genera they are remote from it; the 
head is sometimes narrowed behind the eyes, and often has 
acarina dividing it from the neck; ocelli rarely distin- 
guishable, antenniferous tubercles very slight ; antenne 
four-jointed, basal joint generally the thickest and the 
third and fourth generally the thinnest, although there are 
