NEPA. 
i5g 
hind legs being formed for swimming briskly, and 
fiirnished with an edging of hairs on the inner 
side: it also bears a resemblance to the generality 
of the Cimices, in its broadly ovate shape: the 
thorax and upper wings are pale brown ; the 
lower wings transparent white, and the back, 
which appears only when the wings are expanded, 
is of a fine blueish black: the sides of the abdo- 
men are sermted: the under surface is of a pale 
yellowish brown, with blue-green thorax: the fore- 
feet or chelre are very short, and the abdomen is 
simple, or destitute of any lengthened process. 
This insect is less common than the preceding, 
but is found in similar situations. 
Nepa linearis is an insect of a highly singular 
aspect, bearing a distant resemblance to some 
of the smaller insects of the genus Mantis and 
Phasma. It measures about an inch and half from 
the tip of the snout to the beginning of the abdo- 
minal style or process, which is itself of equal 
length to the former part, and the whole animal is 
extremely slender in proportion to its length: the 
legs also are long and slender, and the chelre or 
fore-legs much longer in proportion than those of 
the second species or Nepa cinerea: the colour 
of the animal is dull yellowish brown, the back, 
when the wings are expanded, appearing of a 
brownish red, and the under wings white and 
transparent. It inhabits the larger kind of stag- 
nant waters, frequenting the shallower parts dur- 
ing the middle of the day, when it may be ob- 
served to prey on the smaller water insects, &c. 
