LYGiEIDiE. 
685 
and are frequently found upon cotton with the Red Cotton Bug 
(Dysdercus cingulatus, Fabr.) ; they are known not to feed on cotton 
seeds as this species does, and 
are harmless; R. M. Dixon 
observed one specimen of S. 
augur feeding upon another 
of its own species in the field, 
which points to carnivorous 
habits, and S. abdominalis, 
Fabr., has been seen feeding 
Fig. 447— Serinetha augur. upon Dysdercus cingulatus, 
Fabr., which it closely resembles. 
Berytidje. 
Like Coreidce but with long legs, the apices of the femora swollen. 
This family includes five small delicate insects of slender build, and 
of great apparent rarity. They are far commoner than their recorded 
Indian distribution would show, but are seldom noticed or collected. 
Paleologus feanus , Disk, was found in Burmah, Metacanthus pulchellus . 
Dali., in Northern India, Hubertiella cardamomi, Kirk., byE. E. Green in 
Ceylon, Metatropis aurita, Breddin, in Darjeeling and Capys malacaipus, 
Stal., in Ceylon. The unobservant student will probably think he has 
the little Reduviid Lorichius umbonatus, Dist., when he first sees these 
graceful insects, but he may remember that in this the base of the 
tibia is dilated, not the apex of the femur, even if the rostrum tells 
him nothing. 
Metacanthus pulchellus, Dali., is the common Indian form sometimes 
seen in abundance upon cultivated cucurbitaceous plants. It is a slender 
greenish insect with the femora and antennae swollen at the apex. 
Byg^eid^e. 
Antennce inserted on the side of the head. Ocelli present. 
A family of considerable magnitude, whose members can usually 
be distinguished in the field, not by any accurate characters but by 
family resemblance. There is no real character dividing these insects from 
the Coreidce : no one would separate the smaller Coreidce from many 
Lygceidce (fig. 446) on the one character given, viz., the position of the 
antennae, and where the student has a small bug obviously possessed of 
