280 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



very showy species, of a pitch brown or black color, with red patches on the sides of 

 the prothorax, spots of the same color at the base and apex of the wing-covers and 

 bands on the sides of the abdomen. It is rather bald, most of the surface is either 

 wrinkled or rough, and the end of the scutellum is long and sharp-pointed. It meas- 

 ures more than three-quarters of an inch in length, but specimens sometimes occur 

 which are dwarfed to about one-half of an inch. 



It seems to be widely distributed in the southern United States, extending from 

 Maryland to southern Florida, and in most of the other sections from central Illinois 

 to the Mexican boundary. The young forms of this insect bear considerable resem- 

 blance to the common bed-bug, although they are much larger, but the adult, at least, 

 is known to infest beds, and causes severe pain to human beings by piercing them 

 with its rostrum. Various other kinds belonging to the same genus inhabit the south- 

 west, as also California, Mexico, Central and South America, and one species, C. ru- 

 brofasciatus, is common in many parts of both hemisj^heres. 



The genus most largely represented on the American continent is the sub-tropical 

 and tropical Spiniger. It already includes about fifty species, most beautifully col- 

 ored, presenting great variety in pattern, and strongly defined by the presence of long 

 spines upon the shoulders and front angles of the prothorax. Several of the species 

 are velvety black, marked with orange spots and stripes, others are spotted and 

 banded with red on a black ground, while still others are bright yellow, varied with 

 black. Brazil is the central home of this genus, from which the species spread away 

 in all directions, some being found as far north as Mexico. 



A variety of the European Opsiccetus personatus, which Dr. St&l has described 

 as a species 0. pungens, referring it to the Heduvius pungens of Maj. Le Conte, is 

 sometimes common in the Atlantic region, where it frequents bed-rooms, living upon 

 bed-bugs and other insects. Like its transatlantic progenitor, it covers itself with 

 dust and fibi-ous rubbish in the young stages, and thus concealed it lurks in quest of 

 prey about the corners and dark places in the rooms. 



The Ectrichodiina are represented in the middle and southern states by J^ctricho- 

 dia cruciata, a broader and deeper form than the foregoing, with a callous, thick pro- 

 thorax, notched each side, and with an impressed line running forward and crossing 

 the transverse one ; the head short, thick, globose behind the eyes, and with but a 

 vestige of a neck. The antennae are moderately short, but stout and hairy, while 

 the sides of the abdomen are broadly rounded and thickened. The legs are also 

 short, the fore thighs are decidedly thickened, and the spongy fossette on the end of 

 the fore shanks, beneath, is large. Its color is bright red, polished, with black on the 

 cheeks, the centre of the vertex and of the prothorax, the scutellum (excepting the 

 tip), the wing covers, sternum, knees, ends of the shanks, and bands of the tarsi. 

 The antennas are dusky, hairy, and the short, thick rostrum is more or less piceous. 

 It measures about half an inch in length, and is distributed from New England to 

 Florida and Mexico. In the north it is commonly shorter winged than in the extreme 

 south. A variety of it occurs as far south as Panama and Central America. 



Hammatocerus has one large form in the United States, the H. purcis. It is the 

 type of the sub-family Hammatocerina, characterized by the generally flat upper sur- 

 face, the moderately long head, sunk into the thorax almost up to the large, round, 

 very projecting eyes, which do not embrace the throat, and by the antennae being 

 short and slender. The species is coarsely granulated, closely set with short, stiff 

 hairs, the ground color is black, dull above, but polished on the venter and base of the 



