PSYCHE 



VOL. XXV FEBRUARY. 1918 No. I 



THE GENUS NARNIA STAL, AND A KEY TO THE 

 GENERA OF ANISOSCELINI A. AND S. (COREIDiE: 

 HETEROPTERA). 



By Edmund H. Gibson and Abby Holdridge, 

 Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 



Members of the genus Narnia Stal present an interesting group 

 in the tribe Anisoscelini A. and S. as well as presenting difficulties 

 to the systematist. In 1862 Stal described the genus to include 

 his femorata and later, in 1870, he described A^^. ■pallidicornis, both 

 descriptions being made from single specimens. Since then three 

 other well defined species have been added to the genus. Now, 

 from the study of a large series of specimens it appears that Stal's 

 two species are the same and one species, with the name fe7norata 

 retained. The characters which he gives for separating -pallidi- 

 cornis irom. femorata can not be termed stable, such as the color of 

 the basal joint of the antennae, which varies to a considerable de- 

 gree in nearly every species of the tribe. The late Mr. Otto 

 Heidemann was of the same opinion as the present authors in this 

 matter, Mr. E. P. Van Duzee, Entomological News, Vol. XVII, 

 No. 10, pp. 384, 1906, has also voiced a similar behef when he 

 stated that he suspected femorata to be a northern form of pallid- 

 icornis. 



Mr. Van Duzee considers his species snoioi and wilsoni as form- 

 ing a subgenus to which he gives the name Xerocoris. In this 

 respect the authors disagree with Mr. Van Duzee and state 

 that if there is to be any dividing of the genus it should be so 

 as to group femorata and snowi together and inornata and wilsoni 

 together. Such a grouping would be based upon the form of the 

 dilation of the hind tibiae which is quite generally accepted to be of 

 greater importance than the relative breadth of insect and con- 

 nexium, and form of prothorax. It seems quite unnecessary to 

 recognize subgenera in Narnia. 



