668 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



Key to Species. 



I. Dark brown; second antennal segment in length equal to width of 



head including eyes americana 



Uniform light brown; second antennal segment longer uniformis 



T. americana Parshley. 



Can. Ent., lii, 84, 1920. 



Dark brown, the hemielytra variegated with light and dark 

 markings. Length 3.3-3.7 mm. 



Known to occur in Maine and Ottawa. 

 T. uniformis Parshley. 



Can. Ent, lii, 85, 1920. 



Pale uniform brown ; antennae long and slender. Length 

 S.y mm. 



Known from a single specimen taken on Mount Washington, 

 New Hampshire, by Mrs. A. T. Slosson. 



Triphleps Fieber. 



A single minute species occurs in our territory. 

 T. insidiosa (Say). 



Het. New Harm., 32, 1832. 



Very dark brown to black; antennae, except first segment, 

 femora at apex, tibiae except the posterior, pale yellowish brown ; 

 hemielytra yellowish, translucent, cuneus, extreme apex of corium, 

 and basal half of clavus, blackish brown. Length 1.75-2 mm. 



This minute species is very commonly met with in sweeping, as 

 it lives in large numbers in the flowers of various plants, where it 

 destroys such insects as it can overpower, aphids, young scale 

 insects, etc. According to Garman and Jewett (1914) it frequents 

 young corn ears, where it feeds on the eggs of the corn ear worm 

 and deposits its own in the strands of corn silk. Hyslop (1916) 

 presents evidence that the injuries made in oviposition furnish a 

 mode of entrance for the destructive disease known as corn ear 

 rot. If this proves to be generally the case, it will more than 

 offset the beneficial activities of the insect. 



A form having the clavus entirely black pertains to the variety 

 tristicolor Buchanan White. It is found throughout the range of 

 the species. 



New Haven, 16 Oct., 1903 (H. L. V.), 18 Oct., 1911 (W. E. B.), 7 Aug., 

 1914 (M. P. Z.) ; Branford, 27 June, 1904 (H. L. V.), 20 and 28 July, 

 1905 (H. W. W.) ; West Haven, 27 June, 1905 (H. L. V.) ; Rowayton, 5 

 Aug., 1909 (C. W. J.) ; Brookfield, 27 July, 1910 (E. L. D.) ; Glastonbury, 

 13 July, 1913 (L. B. R.) ; Hamden, 19 June, 1914 (M. P. Z.). 



Family CIMICIDAE. 

 By Howard Madison Parshley, Sc.D. 

 This family includes a few flat, broadly oval species of moderate 

 size, notable for being exclusively parasitic on birds and mammals. 



