1924] Systematic Position of the Family Termitaphididce 263 
enter the labial trough or rostrum, are coiled several times, like a 
watch-spring, in a semi-circular sheath formed by the tylus. 
The setae are thus extremely long. That such an extra- 
ordinary condition should previously have escaped the notice 
of hemipterists is probably the result of the heavy chitin- 
isation and black coloration of the head, which renders this 
structure entirely invisible in the untreated insect. The present 
writer noticed the setal coil independently in 1920 in the 
newly hatched nymph of Ctenoneurus, in which the coil shows as 
a dark mass against the soft white nymphal tissues. This ar- 
rangement of the trophi is present in an almost identical condi- 
tion in the Termitaphididce and constitutes the second supple- 
mentary proof of the relationship of these interesting termitophiles 
with the Aradids. To these two families alone of the Heteroptera 
are the coiled setse apparently confined. 
Here we meet the difficulty that the feeding-habits of 
Aradidse and even more so of the Termitaphididse are very little 
known. It seems likely that the insects of both families suck the 
sap of trees or the moisture of dead wood and of fungi. Ob- 
viously only liquid nutriment' could be taken up by such mouth- 
parts. 
The first important character in which the Termitaphididce ap- 
pear to differ from the Aradidse lies in the extraordinary develop- 
ment of laminae on the margin of the body, round every portion of 
the periphery. These laminae are furnished with stout outwardly 
directed bristles and with peculiar so named by Morrison. 
In some Aradids there is a lobulate expansion of the flattened 
lateral margin of the body. Such lobes are conspicuous in the 
imago of Dysodius lunatus (Fabr.) of which Dr. Nathan Banks 
has shown me specimens from Panama. In addition. Dr. 
Wheeler collected at Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Panama, 
a single Dysodius nymph, probably referable to D. lunatus. 
This nymph, which is apparently in the third stadium, shows 
the marginal lobes very well-developed and offering striking 
points of resemblance to those of Termitaphis. There are twelve 
rounded lobes on each side of the body, not including projections 
of the head. The first is pro-, the second meso- and the third 
and fourth together metathoracic, while the rest pertain to the 
