170 THE UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



merging into the black membrane, which shades off into smoky and then 

 white at the apex. One of the types is the most pronouncedly melanic 

 specimen of the species in a series of 60 or so specimens. In this the 

 extreme of scutellar darkness with orange-red edges obtains. The ex- 

 ternal edges of the clavus are broadly black, shading into smoky to the 

 corial suture; the dark band on the corium parallel to this suture is 

 broad ; the humerus has a black streak running into the corium, which 

 is dark luteous, except for the black fasciae which coalesce with the 

 black membrane, which in turn lightens to smoky at the apex. The 

 structural characters are the same as in the others. 



"Measurements. Vertex, 1 mm.; synthlipsis, 0.15 mm.; pronotum, 

 long., 1.5 mm to 1.8 mm.; pronotum, lat. (at humeral angle), 2.5 mm. to 

 2.9 mm. (at base 2 mm.); scutellum, long., 1.6 mm.; scutellum, lat., 2 

 mm.; insect., long., 8 mm. to 8.8 mm.; insect, lat. (at humeral angle of 

 pronotum), 2.5 to 2.9 mm. 



"Described from sixteen specimens from Raleigh, N. C. Types: Col- 

 lections U. S. National Museum, American Museum of Natural History, 

 C. S. Brimley, and mine. 



"This species very much resembles a dwarf variabilis, but it is easily 

 distinguishable by the cephalic structure."- — Bueno. 



Distribution : Bueno gives it as locally abundant at Raleigh, N. C. 

 He records it also from New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland and Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



Notonecta ithleri Kirk. 1897. 



Kirkaldy, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (6), XX, p. 58. 



"Head: Notocephalon in the form of an inverted wine decanter, mar- 

 gins greatly curved, widely diverging toward the vertex, which is six 

 to eight times wider than the synthlipsis, at which point the eyes are 

 almost contiguous; breadth of the eye about ten times as great as that 

 of the synthlipsis. Pronotum : humeral angles acute, accentuated lateral 

 margins sinuate, humeral margins little separate from the posterior mar- 

 gin. Metanotum dark purple-brown. Hemelytra varying from dark 

 brick-red to rich orange-yellow; a large irregular black blotch at the base 

 of the corium extending transversely and nonacuminately from the apex 

 of the clavus to the golden-yellow exocorial lateral submargin ; membrane 

 dark red-brown, apically black — this tint encroaching more or less basally. 

 Alar nervures brown. Pedes: Coxas blackish; intermediate tibial spur 

 blunt, subcylindrical. Abdominis dorsum : first and second segments 

 rufotestaceous, deeper marginally, the remainder flavotestaceous, lurid 

 marginally; this latter tint encroaching more and more apically. Ab- 

 dominis venter rufotestaceous, densely provided with greenish-black cilia." 

 — Bueno and Kirkaldy. 



Distribution: New York, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, Louisi- 

 ana, and District of Columbia. 



This is a rare bug according to Bueno and the writer feels proud to 

 have one specimen in his own collection — the gift of Mr. Bueno. 



Notonecta mexicana Amyot and Serville 1843. 



Aniyot et Serville, Hist. Nat. Ins. Hem., p. 453. pi. 8, fig. 7. 



"Head narrow at base, parallel for a short space, then sinuately di- 

 verging; vertex from three and one-half to four and a half times as wide 

 • as synthlipsis. Pronotum very transverse, about two and one-half times 

 wider than long, lateral margins slightly sinuate, humeral margins 

 gently and elongately curved, posterior margin not sinuate; humeral 

 angles acute, accentuated. Metanotum not quite half as long again as 

 scutellum, black (dark vars.) or violet brown margined luteous (pale 

 vars.) Hemelytra varying in color, membrane lobes subequal. Alae 



