196 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY. 



AA. Pre-tibia and pre-tarsi together shorter than the pre-femora. 



B. Pre-tarsi one-clawed. 3. BARCE. 



BB. Pre-tarsi two-clawed. 4. EMESA. 



Family XXII. REDUVIID/E.* 



The Reduviida is a large family, including numerous genera of 

 diverse forms. Many of the members of it are insects of considerable 

 size ; and some are gayly colored. They are predaceous, living on 

 the blood of insects. In some cases, they attack the higher animals ; 

 and, occasionally, even man suffers from them. As already stated, 

 this family is closely allied to the preceding. But the species differ 

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

 coxae are shorter, being never more than two or three times as long 

 as broad ; and, in the case of the species found in the United States, 

 two ocelli are present. These insects agree with the Emesidae 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 Reduviidae 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, Opsiccetus persondtus. 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 European text- 

 books of entomology under the name Reduvius persondtus. But it is 

 now placed in the genus Opsiccetus. A variety of this spe- 

 * ^ cies occurs in the Atlantic region of our country. Fig. 

 W \J 1 66 represents the adult insect. It measures from 1 5 20 

 |\V/( rnm. (0.6-0.8 inch) in length. It is black, or of a very 

 SB^ dark brown. The prothorax is strongly constricted 



^JffL in the middle, rounded in front, and has a prominent 



\ / groove on the middle line, 



\ ^J I There are two marked peculiarities of this species 



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



FIG. 166. Op 



sicoetus per- \^ immature stages, the body is covered with a viscid 



sonatus. J 



substance which causes particles of dust and fibres 

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



* Reduviidae, Reduvius: reduvia, a hang-nail. 



