( 10 ) 
III. On the Classification of the Natural Tribe of Insects Noro- 
NECTIDES, with Descriptions of the British Species. By Wil- 
liam Elford Leach, M.D. F.R.S. and L.S. 
Read April 4, 1815. 
Beror: laying down the characters of this interesting and natu- 
ral tribe of insects, it may not be deemed improper to give a very 
short account of what has been done PL a | entomologists. 
Linné and albhis predecessors comprehe nded the species under 
the generic appellation Notonecta. The accurate Geoffroy was 
the first who separated Notonecta into two genera, which have 
been adopted by most succeeding writers, excepting Linné, who 
= in the last edition of his Some Naturæ has merely given the 
synonyms of that author, without taking the least notice of the 
important characters which induced him to separate them. 
De Geer confounded the animals of this tribe with Nepa and 
Naucoris, whilst Latreille and Olivier placed them in a division of 
their family Hydrocorise. 
. In the Edinburgh Encyclopedia I separated them from the 
Hydrocorise, and placed them in a particular tribe, named in 
that work Notonectides, which term I shall adopt in the following 
little essay. 
Onto: 
$i 
