September, 1941 
of femora black; hind femora with indica- 
tion of a subapical, fuscous band on anter- 
ior aspect. 
FEMALE.—Length 5.00, width 2.60. Very 
similar to male in pubescence and colora- 
tion. 
Known DistrisutTion.—lIllinois, Mani- 
toba, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, 
South Dakota, Wisconsin. 
Illinois Record.—GatesBurc: June 28, 
Bo, 16,2°¢. 
Polymerus chrysopsis Knight 
Polymerus chrysopsis Knight (1925, p. 245). 
Matve.—Length 5.70, width 3.60. Head 
width 1.17, vertex 0.48; head black, with a 
rounded, yellowish spot on either side of 
vertex near eye. Rostrum, length 1.24, 
reaching slightly beyond middle of mesoster- 
num; blackish; first and second segments 
more or less reddish. Antennae _ black, 
clothed with short, mixed pale and fuscous 
pubescence ; first segment, length 0.45, thick- 
ness 0.14; second, length 2.06, cylindrical, 
thickness 0.12; third, length 0.66; fourth, 
length 0.63. Pronotum, length 1.17, width 
at base 2.06. Body clothed with silvery 
white pubescence intermixed with suberect, 
pale yellowish pubescence. General color 
black, moderately shining, with embolium 
and variable area at apex of corium and 
cuneus, blood red; coxae and femora red; 
apices of femora and tibiae black; trochan- 
ters and extreme bases of coxae sometimes 
fuscous; posterior femora often with a black 
patch on dorsal surface before black apex, 
also two small dots of black on ventral as- 
pect. 
FEMALE.—Length 5.50, width 2.80. Very 
similar to male in pubescence and coloration. 
Antennae black, last two segments dark 
brownish. 
Host PLant.—Golden aster (Chrysopsis 
villosa). 
This is the most beautiful species of 
Polymerus, the bright red of the embolium, 
cuneus and femora, standing in brilliant con- 
trast with the black body. Strange to say, 
the contrasting red and black colors make 
the insect difficult to see when it is on its 
host plant. When disturbed, the adult bug 
usually rushes to the base of a leaf petiole, 
where it clasps its legs about the reddish 
stem of the plant in such a way that the 
black body with its covering of silvery pu- 
bescence suggests, at first glance, a bud 
KNIGHT: PLANT Bucs, or MIrIDAE, oF ILLINOIS 
171 
in the leaf axil of the golden aster. Many 
other mirids are so colored as to be simi- 
larly inconspicuous when they are on their 
normal host plants. 
Known DistrinutTion.—lIllinois, Iowa, 
Manitoba, Minnesota, North Dakota, South 
Dakota. 
Illinois Record.—A.princE: 
1932,-Hebe Dozer, 1a: 
May 8, 
Polymerus gerhardi Knight 
Polymerus gerhardi Knight (1923d, p. 606). 
FEMALE.—Length 6.40, width 2.80. Head 
width 1.16, vertex 0.51; head black, vertex 
pale on either side; clothed with sericeous, 
white pubescence. Rostrum, length 1.08, not 
attaining hind margins of front coxae, pice- 
ous, basal segment and joints reddish. An- 
tennae, first segment, length 0.64, thickness 
0.14, black; second, 2.03, thickness 0.09, cy- 
lindrical, black, with rather closely set, 
black pubescence; third, 0.96, fusco-brown- 
ish; fourth, 0.88, fuscous. Pronotum, length 
1.24, width at base 2.14; black, scarcely 
shining, rather irregularly rugulose; thickly 
clothed with sericeous, white pubescence; 
margins of xyphus, and narrow area along 
lower margins of pleura, yellowish. Scutel- 
lum black, pubescent as on pronotal disk. 
Sternum and pleura black; ostiolar peri- 
treme yellowish. Emboliar margins moder- 
ately arcuate. Hemelytra black, thickly 
clothed with sericeous, white pubescence in- 
termixed with more erect, simple, black 
hairs. Membrane and veins uniformly very 
dark brown, slightly paler bordering apex 
of cuneus. Legs with femora deep red; 
coxae tending toward yellowish or orange; 
tips of femora, tibiae, and tarsi, black; tibiae 
unusually thick, 0.17; spines and pubescence 
also black. Venter black, thickly clothed 
with sericeous, white pubescence intermixed 
with more nearly erect, dark hairs. 
Mare.—Length 4.70, width 2.00. Anten- 
nae, first segment, length 0.52; second, 2.03, 
thickness 0.13; third, length 0.82; fourth, 
length 0.86. Smaller than female, but very 
similar in pubescence and coloration. 
Known DistripuTioN.—Described orig- 
inally from specimens from Lake County, 
Indiana, and Texas. Since being described, 
this species has also been collected in IIli- 
nois, Mississippi, Oklahoma. 
Illinois Records. — ASsHLey: Aug. 7, 
1917, 14, 1¢. Savanna: June 29, 1935, 
DeLong & Ross, 1°¢. 
