20 Mr. J. O. Westvvood's Olservatio7is 



In the Genera Criistaceorum, &c., Latreille however united the 

 two last named groups into one genus, Phijmata, divided into two 

 sections from the supposed variation in the structure of the an- 

 tennae ; the first section having Ph. crassjpes and the second Cimex 

 erosus for the type. 



Laporte, however, in his Revision of the Hemipternf published 

 in Guerin's Magaz'm de Zoologie, has again introduced three 

 genera into the group, namely, — 1. Phijmata, having crassij)es as 

 its type ; 2. Disconierus, Laporte, having erosus as its type, with 

 the Latreillian character obtained from the antennae alone, and 

 the observation " le genre a tous les autres caracteres des Phy- 

 mates ;' and 3. Macrocephalus, with M. cimtcoides (or the mani- 

 cala, Fabr.) 



From the review of the genera given above, it will however be 

 at once perceived that if the Cimex erosus be generically distinct 

 from the Phymata crassipes, the generic name of Syrtls must be 

 given to it, and that it is improper to apply a new generic name 

 to it. 



The synonymy of these groups would then stand thus : — 



i-o-j I- iui-as, pats aberrans, lab. 1803. < .x*^ ,. . ', . 



1787. ^ ^ >i I {i>yrtismumcata,Fdi.h.) 



o Dj. . r . -n r P/ii/TOflifl, sect. 1, Latreille, 1807. ~).p o .• 



2. rfti/mflta, Latreil e, > c ■,• ■ r u lono f t vp. oyrtis crassives, 



yof\c^ \ .Si/riis, pars abenans, lab. 1803. > -,'; , ^ ^ ^/co, 



1802. in, ; 1 . looo ( ^ab. 



(. Fhiimata, Laporte 1833. _) 



3. Syrtis, Fab. pars < P/ii/muin, sect. 2, Latreille, 1807. ^ Typ. Cimex erosus, 



typica, 1803. ( Discoineius, Laporte 1833. I Linn. 



These observations (made with the view of again pointing out 

 the disadvantages arising to science from the still too prevalent 

 inattention to generic types), presuppose the generic distinction 

 of these three groups ; but a careful revision of the insects them- 

 selves prove most decidedly that Latreille had established his two 

 sections of Phymala upon sexual characters alone, and that La- 

 porte, in adopting Latreille's sectional character as that of his new 

 genus Discomerus, proposed a group which cannot be maintained. 

 In this view therefore the synonymy of the groups will run thus : 



1. 3facrocephalus, Swederus, ut supra. 



2. Phymata, Latreille, 1802, (e Syrtide baud generice dis- 



tincta). 

 Syn. Syrtis, Fabricius, pars typica et (partim) aberrans, 

 1803. 

 Phijviata, sect. 1 et 2, Latreille, 1807. 

 Phymala et Discomerus, Laporte, 1833. 

 Respecting the structural charactei's of these insects, the most 

 remarkable, and which exists throughout, and in fact distinguishes 



