134 [June. 



lying in wait for pre}', in the crevices of tlie bark. Spreading plants, 

 which cover some unoccupied space beneath their foUage, provide an 

 attractive shelter to several small species, especially of Lycjaeidae. 



Amongst flowering plants, there are several natural orders that are 

 altogether avoided bv our British Heteroptera, and the most notewoi-thy 

 of these is the Orchidaceae. Amongst at least 2000 records which I 

 have been able to collect from entomological literature, and from the 

 unpublished observations of m^^self and other Hemipterists, I have not 

 found a single one referring to any species belonging to this order. Not 

 even as a casual occurrence has any connexion between an Orchid and a 

 heteropterous bug been recorded in Britain ; the whole order is entirelv 

 shunned. This is a remarkable exception, for the Orchidaceae are fairlv 

 numerous in species, upwards of 40 being included in the British list, 

 and though some are rare, several are common or even abundant. The 

 other natural orders which ai-e entirely avoided are ^apaveraceaey Fii- 

 mariaceae, PoJi/galaceae, FranJceniaceae, Portidaceae, Elatinaceac^ 

 Linaceae, Droseraceae, Lijflrraceae, Valerianaceae, JMonotropacene, 

 Ajiocynaceae, Gentianaceae, PoJemoniaceae, Orohanchaceae, J'rr- 

 benaceae, Thymcleaceae, CeratoplnjlJaceae^ TTy d roclta ri daceae, Amarijl- 

 lidaceae^ Dioscoreaceae, Araceae, Friocaulonaceae. All of these 

 orders have British representatives, though some contain no more than 

 one species ; but, on the other hand, the list includes many very well- 

 known and widely distributed plants, such as Poi^i^y, Fumitory, Milk- 

 wort, Flax, Loosestrife, Valerian, Periwinkle, Gentian, Vervain, Arum, 

 etc. None of these has any heteropterous inhabitants. 



The Tlialamiflorae, as a whole, are much neglected, for even such 

 extensive orders as the Ranunculaceae, Ci'iici^erae.aud Caryopliyllaceae^ 

 have but very few^ adherents, and probably most of the records that are 

 given (usually a solitary one in each instance) are merely casual occur- 

 rences. The best established connexions in these orders are those of 

 Etirydema oleraceum with cabbages, Beostis maritinms with Silene 

 maritima, Dicyphns constrictiis and D. ylohiilifer with Lychnis dioica. 

 and Orthotylus ruhidus and Coiiostethus salinus with Arenaria. The 

 TiUaceac and Geraniaceac, however, are more favoured. The lime-tree 

 is regularly inhabited by several species, either on its leaves or on its 

 trunk, the most noteworthy being Lyyus ce^n-invs on the leaves and 

 Microphysa eleyantida on the trnnk, where it probably hunts other 

 small insects. In the Geraniaceae the grand attraction is Erodium. 

 and tlie sj)ecies of Prnfaloinidar, Corcidar, and Lyyaeidae that inhabit 

 sandhills often take shelter under its wide-spreading leaves, if they do 



