SUBFAMILY II. — NABIN^E. 605 



notum about as wide at base as long, strongly constricted be- 

 hind middle, its front lobe with a narrow median carina, and 

 side margins distinct ; elytra surpassing tip of abdomen, their 

 membrane large without closed discal cells; front femora 

 feebly swollen, armed beneath with a number of short distant 

 spines ; front tibiae setose beneath, their tips obliquely trun- 

 cate. One species is known from the West Indies and eastern 

 states. 



581 (834). Metatropiphorus belfragii Reuter, 1873, 94. 



Elongate, very slender, subparallel. Fuscous-brown, thickly clothed 

 with very short silvery-gray pubescence; hind lobe of pronotum, and 

 elytra in great part, dull reddish-brown, the latter with a fuscous cross- 

 bar just behind the commissure of clavus; an elongate spot on clavus 

 and two on embolium of elytra, pale dull yellow; membrane dusky, paler 

 near tip, its nervures brown; antennae and legs reddish-brown, apical 

 fourth or more of femora piceous, tarsi and apex of tibia? blackish. Eyes 

 very large, coarsely granulated. Front lobe of pronotum with disk un- 

 even, sparsely punctate, the side margins sinuate and subcarinate; hind 

 lobe with a shallow median groove and a wide shallow impression each 

 side, its hind margin squarely truncate. Commissure of clavus more than 

 twice the length of scutellum. Other characters as before given. Length, 

 6.5 — 7 mm. 



Yaphank, Long Island, N. Y., July 25 (Davis). Ranges from 

 Massachusetts and New York west to Illinois and southwest 

 to Florida, Texas and the West Indies ; apparently scarce wher- 

 ever found. The only Florida records are those of Barber from 

 Clearwater and Bueno from Biscayne. Van Duzee swept one 

 specimen from grass and weeds near Kingston, Jamaica. 



Family XXI. NiEOGEIDiE Kirkaldy, 1902, 168. 

 (Hebrides Am. & Serv.). 



The Velvet Water-bugs. 



Very small, oblong or subquadrate semi-aquatic or hygroph- 

 ilous bugs having the surface of the body densely clothed with 

 a very short velvety pile ; head shorter than pronotum, sub- 

 declivent ; eyes large, coarsely granulated ; ocelli present ; an- 

 tennae 4- or 5-jointed; beak slender, 4-jointed, usually reach- 

 ing between or beyond hind coxae; pronotum as broad as or 

 broader than abdomen, constricted in front of middle ; scutel- 

 lum small, triangular, its apex obtuse; elytra usually entire, 

 the clavus membranous and membrane very large, without 

 veins (fig. 6, a) ; connexivum narrowly exposed; legs short, 

 subequal in length; tarsi 2-jointed, their claws terminal. 



