﻿STINK BUGS, GENIJS MECIDEA — SAILER 483 



Male genitalia: Penial plates and lateral penial vesiculae as on 

 plate 47, figure 19. The median penial vcsicula is not shown, as it 

 could not be forced out of its invaginated position in any dissection of 

 the tlii'ce available males. 



Variation. — The eight specimens examined were all collected at 

 the same time and place. The most striking variation shown by the 

 series is the degree to which the spots on the median line of the venter 

 of the abdomen are present. In two specimens these spots are 

 present on five segments while on two others only the sixth segment 

 is so marked. 



Type. — Presumed to be in the Zoological Museum at Copenhagen. 



Distribution. — The species was described from a female specimen 

 collected in Eritrea. The eight specimens that I have studied belong 

 to the British Museum and bear the following data: Abyssinia, plains 

 northwest of Lake Zwai, 5,500 to 6,000 feet, November 1, 1926. 



MECIDEA LEPINEYI Lindberg 



Mecidea lepineyi Lindbeeg, Not. Ent., vol. 18, pt. 3, pp. 85, 87, fig. Ic, 1938. 



This species was described from a specimen collected in a region of 

 the west Sahara known as El Djouf. The description does not refer 

 to the sex of the specimen; however, the illustration and description 

 of the antennae are strongly suggestive of a male specimen of Mecidea 

 pallida. The fact that the illustration is accompanied by one of a 

 female specimen of pallida raises the possibility that Lindberg was 

 not aware of the sexual dimorphism exhibited by the antennae of 

 Mecidea. If this is true, it would not be surprising if he failed properly 

 to associate the sexes and decided that his male specimen represented 

 a new species. It seems best, however, not to synonymize the species 

 with pallida until the type specimen can be compared with a male of 

 the latter species. 



The present location of the type is not apparent from Lindberg's 

 paper. 



MECIDEA UNEARIS Dallas 



Mecidea linearis Dallas, List of the specimens of hemipterous insects in the col- 

 lection of the British Museum, vol. 1, p. 139, 1851. — Signoret, Ann. Soc. 

 Ent. France, ser. 2, vol. 9, p. cviii, 1851. — ^ Walker, Catalogue of the specimens 

 heteropterous Hemiptera (Hemiptera-Heteroptera) in the collection of the 

 British Museum, pt. 3, p. 539, 1868. — Stal, Enum. Hemip., vol. 5, p. 38, 

 1876. — Lethierry and Severin, Catalogue general des H^miptferes, vol. 1, 

 H^teroptferes, Pentatomidae, p. 92, 1893. — Kirkaldy, A catalogue of 

 the Hemiptera (Heteroptera) , vol. 1, Cimicidae, p. 202, 1909. — Distant, 

 Ann. South African Mus., vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 39, 1911. — Jensen-Haarup 

 Ent. Meddel., vol. 14, pt. 1, p. 7, 1922. — Hesse, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 

 vol. 16, pt. 4, p. 585, 1935. 



The specimen described by Dallas as Mecidea linearis bore no local- 

 ity data. When Signoret in 1851 acknowledged that Mecidea Dallas 



