521 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 
country thirty years ago than it is at present, for Mr. Say had 
only met with a single specimen of it, an individual of our 
Variety dimidiatvs, which he found on the eastern shore of Vir¬ 
ginia, and he was wholly unaware of its importance in an 
economical aspect. He named it Lygceus leucopterus or the white¬ 
winged Lygaeus. This genus now forms the Family Lygmda, 
and is chiefly characterised by having the scutel or triangular 
piece between the base of the wings short and not reaching the 
middle of the abdomen, the antennse inserted upon or below a 
line drawn from the eyes to the base of the beak, four-jointed 
with the last joint thickest or at least not more slender than the 
preceding one, and the thin membrane at the end of the wing 
covers with not more than four or five veins. 
At the date when Mr. Say described this insect, M. Serville 
had proposed separating those species of the old genus Lygsus 
in which the anterior thighs are swelled or thickened, into a 
distinct genus which he named Pachymerus. But as this name 
had anteriorly been applied by Latreille to another genus of 
insects, it became necessary to alter it; and Mr. Say therefore 
proposed abbreviating it to the name Pamerus, under which 
name he placed nine of the nineteen new species which he de¬ 
scribed in this family. The European naturalists have proba¬ 
bly been unarvare of this correction made by Mr. Say, and the 
following year M. De Laporte proposed to substitute the name 
Jlphanus for that of Pachymerus. But M. Guerin had anteriorly 
given the badly constructed name Aphoma to another genus of 
insects, the orthography of which, when it came to be rectified, 
became Aphanus. As this name, therefore, could not be retained, 
Mr. Curtis proposed the name Rhyparochromus for these insects, 
which name has been adopted by M. Serville and the European 
naturalists generally. But the rule of priority will certainly 
give Mr. Say’s name, Pamerus,the precedence of Rhyparochromus. 
It may be objected to this name, however, that it is a hybrid, 
not being regularly constructed nor yet a purely fantastic name. 
Yet under the circumstances, it appears to us it was more judi¬ 
cious and serviceable to the science thus to alter a name which 
had become current, than to abolish it and introduce a new 
one. 
