It has been observed sitting on the tassels of maize cobs, catching and sucking the blood out of hive bees as they come for the pollen. It is common on the Tweed River, N.S.W., and in Queensland. The members of the Genus _Helonotus_ are similar large carnivorous bugs. Specimens are recorded from Cape York (Queensland), and the tropical scrubs of New Guinea. Family 9. Bed Bugs. CIMICIDAE. The family to which the common bed bug of unsavoury reputation belongs, is a very small one, comprising only a few genera and about a dozen species. They have no ocelli; the wing cases are short and do not reach to the tip of the abdomen; the head is short, with the rostrum when at rest fitting into a groove beneath it. _Cimex lectularius_, the common house bug, is supposed to have come originally from Asia into Europe, and thence transported over the world. Several other species are found in Europe and America, another in India, and indigenous species both in Chili and the Isle of Bourbon. A fossil bug has been found in the Lower Tertiary beds in Scotland which is said to be very similar if not identical with the present household pest. Kirkaldy has recently created the Genus _Klinophilos_ to contain our common bed bug, though it has always been considered to be Linne’s type of the Genus _Cimex_. Family 10. Leaf Bugs. CAPSIDAE. These are all small plant-eating bugs of somewhat delicate structure, and form a family of considerable size; over 2,000 species having been recorded from all parts of the world. Several species are well known pests in India and Ceylon, and a few in America are said to prey on small insects. Very little attention has been paid to the collection of these small bugs in this country, but Mr. Kirkaldy informs me that 35 species have been described from Australia, chiefly by Walker, Reuter, Distant and himself. They have no ocelli; the antenna is four jointed, with the second joint usually very long; the scutellum is triangular and very small; the elytra and wings are large, the former remarkable for having only two cells in each apical area; the female is furnished with a well-defined ovipositor. In his “Memoir upon the Rhynchotal family Capsidae” (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1902), Kirkaldy lists 6 described species, and also defines 5 new species which were collected at Alexandria, Victoria. _Eurybrochis zanna_ is a mottled reddish brown insect, darkest towards the extremity, measuring under ¼ of an inch in length, and of the usual form. _Austomiris viridissimus_ is a longer, more slender bug of a general greenish tint. _Zanessa rubrovariegata_ is again a little longer, of a uniform brown tint marked with red on the elytra. Stal (Eugenie’s Resa Novara 1859) described 3 Australian species. Family 11. Water Bugs. CRYPTOCERATA.