On some Western European Aphids

1. The genus Atheroides Haliday Of this genus 3 Western European species are known : A. serrulatus Hal. (syn. festucae Mordv.?), A. hirtellus Hal. (syn. A. junci Laing) and A. brevicornis Laing. a) A. serrulatus Hal. is quite common. It lives on Poa annua often, but prefers species of grass with narrow, folded leaves, such as Festuca ovina, F. rubra, Nardus etc. b) A. hirtellus Hal. is not rare on Aira caespitosa. It seems to live on that plant only. c) A. brevicornis Laing is extremely common along the muddy seashores of the Netherlands. It prefers Festuca thalassica and F. distans, the two typical species of grass growing there 2). The alatae have not yet been described and therefore I add a short description. The apterae have been described excellently by Laing, but I redescribe them for comparison. Atheroides brevicornis Laing Apterous viviparous female. Morphological characters. Body very elongated oval, nearly linear. Tergum strongly sclerotic, usually uniformly dark, very coarsely corrugated, covered with clubshaped or inverse-bottleshaped hairs with blunt, sometimes emarginate apex; the bases of the hairs look like perforations of the dark sclerite. Head fused with prothorax, but suture very distinct; mesothorax, metathorax and first abdominal tergite free; abdominal tergite II— VII fused, second sometimes partly free ; eighth tergite semicircular, free. Head semicircular; front convex, with one, often normal, spiny hair standing over the base of each antenna; a pair of hairs more towards the middle,