1918] Parshley — Hemipteological, Notes 65 



plete knowledge of the forms, the concepts subspecies and variety, 

 for instance, being distinct and clearly formulated. The study of 

 the Hemiptera is less advanced, and there is usually insufficient 

 ground for deciding whether a certain form of a species is to be con- 

 sidered subspecific (racial) or varietal in this strict sense. This 

 being the case I have thus far denominated as varieties all forms of 

 less than specific value, and have used trinomials in their designa- 

 tion, leaving it to be inferred that all such varieties pertain, perhaps, 

 to the typical subspecies, as their frequently coincident ranges 

 would seem to indicate. 



Recently a tendency has become very evident to give definite 

 varietal names not only to forms characterized by slight struc- 

 tural peculiarities but also to those differing only in color. Exam- 

 ples of the latter are to be found in the Mirid genera Horcias^ 

 and Paracalocoris? Specimens of Horcias dislocatus, for instance, 

 may be almost entirely black, almost entirely red, or conspicuously 

 striped with red, black, and yellow. But a varied and more or 

 less intergrading collection of these different forms may sometimes 

 be taken from a single branch, and may very possibly have issued 

 from the same batch of eggs. Thus such "varieties" represent a 

 very different conception from the varieties of the myrmecologist, 

 corresponding in some cases, no doubt, to his unnamed "nest- 

 varieties," and this must be borne in mind in considering the 

 trinomial names of Hemiptera. 



As remarked by McAtee, it seems unscientific to make no at- 

 tempt in collections and taxonomic treatments to separate these 

 often totally distinct appearing forms, and if they are to be sepa- 

 rated they should be given names for several good reasons. I have 

 recently received communications on the subject which lead me to 

 suggest that this matter calls for discussion with a view to bringing 

 hemipterological concepts and nomenclature into harmony with 

 the ideas established in the study of groups which are better 

 understood. At present I, for one, use the term variety non- 

 committally to designate subdivisions of the species {not aberra- 

 tions) which I think should be named, but without any structural, 

 geographic, or genetic connotation. 



1 Van Duzee, E. P. Hemipterological Gleanings, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci., Vol. 10, 1912, 

 pp. 477-512. 



« McAtee, W. L. Key to the Nearctic species of Paracalocoris, Ann. Ent. Soc. America, 

 Vol. 9, 1916, pp. 366-390. 



