42 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL VIII, January, 1954 
the food and other products of metabolism 
of ferns as contrasted with those of higher 
plants. 
There is what appears to be a somewhat 
analogous case among the Hemiptera in the 
archaic homopteran family of Peloridiidae, 
which require a substratum of continuously 
moist mosses or lichens. In this instance both 
the general type of host plant and the asso- 
ciated high humidity seem to be necessary. 
It might be possible to test to what extent 
the host preference of any particular species 
of Bryocorinae is due to a dependence on the 
host plant itself or upon the habitat condi- 
tions in which the host normally lives. Such 
preference may be related not only to food 
needs but also to requirements of oviposition. 
The writer has seen no reference to the ovi- 
position habits of those Bryocorinae living 
on ferns, but from what is known of their 
life histories it would seem likely that they 
insert their eggs in the food plant, 
Acknowledg?nents 
I wish to express my gratitude to Professor 
R. L. Usinger, College of Agriculture, Uni- 
versity of California, for the opportunity of 
studying and describing the material of F. 
amhoinae and F. usingeri, and for the gift of 
specimens of F. magnificus Distant and F. 
ochraceus Usinger (paratype); also to Dr. R. I. 
Sailer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 
Dr. R. Kellogg, Director, and Dr. E. A. 
Chapin, Curator of the Division of Insects, 
U.S. National Museum, for the loan of a para- 
type and another determined specimen of F. 
philippinensis Hsiao, from the latter institution. 
I am much indebted to Dr. W. E. China, De- 
partment of Entomology, British Museum 
(Nat. Hist.), for valuable information and 
advice on the systematics of the group. I also 
with to thank Mr. B. A. O’Connor, Govern- 
ment Entomologist, Department of Agricul- 
ture, Suva, Eiji, for the loan of material of 
F. filicicola (Kirkaldy); Mr. A. W. Parrott, 
Curator of Insects, Cawthron Institute, Nel- 
son, New Zealand, for the loan of the spec- 
imens of F. elegantulus (Reuter) from Nelson; 
and Mr. J. R. Henry, Keeper of the Macleay 
Collection, University of Sydney, Mr. J. M. 
Letchford, of Brisbane, and Mr. F. A. Perkins, 
Head of the Department of Entomology, 
University of Queensland, for the gift or loan 
of Australian specimens of the latter species. 
For the kind provision of transport and other 
assistance in collecting material I am indebted 
to Dr. E. J. Reye, Brisbane, Queensland, and 
Dr. R. A. Cumber, of the Entomological 
Research Station, Nelson, New Zealand; and 
for the identification of host ferns to Dr. L. 
H. Millener, Department of Botany, Auck- 
land University College, and Miss J. W. 
Herbert, Department of Botany, University 
of Queensland. 
Genus Felisacus Distant 
Liocoris Motschoulsky, 1863. Bui. Soc. Imp. 
des Naturalistes de Moscou 36(2): 86 (pre- 
occupied by Liocoris Fieber, 1858). 
Felisacus Distant, 1904. Fauna Brit. India, 
Rhynchota 2(2): 434, 438 (new name for 
Liocoris Motsch.). Poppius, 1912. Acta So- 
cietatis Scientiarum Fennicae 41(3): 181- 
182 (redescription). 
Hyaloscytus Reuter, 1905. Ofversigt af Finska 
Vetenskaps-Societetens Forhandlingar 47 
( 5 ): 1 - 2 . 
Felisacus elegantulus (Reuter) 
Hyaloscytus elegantulus Reuter, 1905, Ofv. Fin- 
ska Vetensk. -Soc. Forhandl. 47(5): 2, fig. 1. 
Felisacus elegantulus (Reuter) auct. 
STRUCTURE: Width of head across eyes less 
than 1.5 times the length (15.75:12; 17:12); 
interocular space nearly or quite twice as wide 
as eye (8:4.5; 8:4). Basal 0.25 to 0.33 of head 
cylindrical, forming a collum separated from 
rest of head by an annular constriction, in 
front of which the crown is moderately raised 
and convex; from constriction, sides convexly 
diverging to posterior margins of eyes, where 
head is 0.75 as wide as across eyes; basal 
collum about 0.8 as wide as head at base of 
