IOWA PENTATOMOIDEA 
351 
already possessed served as a nucleus for the collection. Since 
that time, throug^h the media of collecting, donations, exchanges 
and purchases, the collection has been considerably augmented as 
has been indicated above. Many locality records from the Uni- 
ted States and a fCw from Canada and Mexico are included in 
the list. 
OBJECT AND PI/AN OF THE PROPOSED WORK. 
Since, as before mentioned, little has been done on the Iowa 
species of the group Pentatomoidea, and that some time since, 
it was thought that some contribution might be made if data were 
eollected on the following points — synonymy, descriptions, tables 
for determining species and genera, locality records, distribution 
and abundance of various species in detail, ecological notes, food 
habits and as complete a bibliography as possible. 
During the progress of the work thus far it has. been found 
that literature bearing on only Iowa species is widely scattered, 
must be obtained from many sources and some is quite inaccessi- 
ble to many students on account of its cost or rarity. No single 
book or paper which the writer has seen has dealt with all these 
subjects for the group as a whole although some work of a simi- 
lar nature has been done on a few of the genera. For this reason 
it was thought advisable to bring as much as possible of this 
matter together in one place and also to. add any new material 
and information that might seem worth while. To accomplish 
this end much field observation and collecting will be necessary 
and this part of the work is only now fairly under way. 
OOIiLECTING OF MATERIAL. 
In work of this sort much material for comparison is needed ; 
specimens of any given species from widely separated localities 
are desirable in order to determine the limits of distribution and 
the ecological status of the species; specimens of plant-feeding 
species from as many different plants as possible are desirable 
for a knowledge of food habits as to whether they are of limited 
or wide latitude ; specimens of predaceous forms taken in the act 
of feeding are interesting and valuable from the economic stand- 
point; and specimens taken under other and varying conditions 
all help to complete one’s working collection of a group. In order 
that the fauna of the state may be typical and representative in a 
collection, specimens must be secured in many localities present- 
ing different geological, ecological, botanical and other condi- 
tions. 
