196 AN INTRODUCE 



A A. Pre-tibi L and iiortcr than the pro-femora. 



wed, 



Family XXII. R I DUVIID 



The Redwlida is a large family, including nun . nera of 

 diverge forms. Many of the members of it are in cn>iderable 



(1. They arc' p: [5, living mi 



the blood of insects. In sou : tack the higher animals ; 



and, occasionally, even man suffers from them. As already >tated, 

 this family i- y allied to the preceding. Hut the spcci 



from the Kmcsiihu in having the body and legs thicker. The front 

 coxaj are shorter, being never more than two or three times as ', 

 '. ; and, in the case of the found in the United St, 



two ocelli are present. These insects agree with the Fmoidaj in 

 having the rostrum short, three-jointed, attached to the tip of the 

 head, and with the distal end, when not in use, resting upon the 

 prosternum, which is grooved to receive it. 



In Uhler's Catalogue of the Hemiptera of North America ( 1886), 

 fifty genera of the Reduviidoj representing nine sub-families, are 

 enumerated. Only a few of the more familiar species can be referred 

 to in this place. 



The Masked Bed-bug-hunter, OpsitfTtns />crMiititns. The member 

 of this family about which probably most has been written is the one 

 for which I propose the popular name given above. The species is a 

 European one, and is described in nearly all of the Kuropean t 

 books of entomology under the name Rcdui'iiis fr-rwndtiis. But it is 



now placed in the genus OpsiciTtns. A variety of thi> 

 f . curs in the Atlantic region of our country. Fig. 



W \J 166 represents the adult insect. It measures from 15-20 



|\V/( mm. (0.6-0. S inch) in length. It is black, or of a . 



NiK^ dark brown. The prothorax is strongly constricted 



JHIL in the middle, rounded in front, and has a prominent 



y ^B y groove on the middle line. 



1 ^J I There are two marked peculiarities of thi> 



Fjo t( which has caused it to attract much attention: first, in 



its immatu: -.the body red with a viscid 



ionatut. 



substance which . ;. articles of dust and fit' 



to adhere to it ; not only the body proper, but the legs and 



* Reduvlidae, RcdOvius: hang-nail. 



