affectinij the Corn-Crops. 
511 
bability, carnivorous, and consequently the farmer's friend^ but we 
have not been able to trace their economy to its source. This 
insect belongs to the same Order, Genus, and Family as the last; 
and 1 gave it the specific name in the Guide of picticeps from its 
painted head ; but after collecting a series of specimens, I am 
inclined to believe that it is only a variety of the Linnean species, 
called 
15. !Miris dolabratus. The Male is sulphur-coloured, pube- 
scent: head small, black, somewhat lozenge-shaped, a little nar- 
rowed behind the eyes, which are lateral, prominent, oval, and 
brown ; the forehead is a little produced, with a yellow dot on each 
side of the face, an orange streak on the forehead, and a yellow 
margin to the ejes above; ocelli none; rostrum long, slender, 
four-jointed, piceous at the tip : antennae not so long as the body, 
setaceous, pubescent, four-jointed, piceous or tawny, parallel at the 
base, first joint the stoutest, a little longer than the head, second 
more than twice as lon^, third shorter, fourth not so longf as the 
first and verj- slender : thorax trigonate, truncated before, twice 
as broad as the head behind, orange-coloured before, with two 
broadish stripes of a purplish colour, black before, leaving a pale 
lateral margin : scutellum larger than in M. Tritici, triangular, 
orange-coloured at the base with four black spots and two on the 
disc, the edges being of the same colour ; abdomen obtuse, fuscous 
above, ochraceous beneath, with a brown stripe down each side, 
leaving the margins ochreous : elytra coriaceous, longer than the 
body, elliptical, rather broader than the thorax at the middle, 
Iving flat on the back, the disc of a rosv tint, membrane fuscous 
with a large elliptical cell at the base : legs similar to the last, but 
not so long ; tarsi fuscous at their tips (fig. 16 ; x, the natural length 
of 44 lines, breadth 1 line). Female shorter and broader, the 
elytra not longer than the abdomen ; antennae and legs much 
stouter and not so long as in the male, the pubescence upon them 
thicker and black ; the back of the abdomen and the stripe on 
each side beneath often of a redcUsh purple colour ; the channel to 
receive the ovipositor convex and not so long as in M. Tritici : 
length 4 lines, breadth 1^. The Pupa is not 3 lines long, boat- 
shaped, destitute of wings, and of a bright yellow colour ; the legs 
and antennae are rather stout, and most like those of the female in 
both sexes; they are ochreous, often clouded with purplish- red ; the 
eyes are black ; on the crown of the head is a balloon-shaped 
figure of a chestnut colour ; the thorax has a broad stripe on either 
side of the same tint, which runs along over each sheath of the 
wing-cases down to the tail, which is obtuse in the male and ovate- 
conic in the female, the under-side is variegated with reddish- 
purple ; tarsi only biarticulate ; blackish at the tips (fig. 15; w, 
the natural length). 
