614 



FAMILY XXII. — MESOVELIID^E. 



Marion, Putnam and Jefferson counties, Ind., June 15 — Sept. 

 28. Frequent in quiet pools along streams among clumps of 

 water willows ; the nymphs between the dates mentioned much 



more common than the adults. Utopia, 

 Moore Haven, LaBelle, Sanibel Island 

 and Dunedin, Fla., Nov. 18 — April 25. 

 Frequent in all stages during the win- 

 ter at Dunedin in masses of water- 

 weed and in muck in or about the mar- 

 gins of small ponds. Recorded from 

 four additional Florida stations and 

 doubtless occurs throughout that 

 State. Ranges from New England 

 west to Illinois and southwest to 

 Florida, Texas, Mexico and Brazil. 

 Of its habits in Maryland Uhler 

 (1884, 274) in the notes on his M. 

 bisignata, a synonym of mulsanti, says: 



Fig. 153. Female X 10. 

 (After Hungerford I . 



"The unwinged individuals appear more slender than the winged 

 ones and often hibernate in this State. On the surface of the quiet 

 waters which they inhabit, specimens may be seen at rest near the banks 

 or in the midst of pond weeds. There they watch the arrival of some 

 hasty gnat or other small insect which chances to fall into the water. 

 This they eagerly grasp with the fore feet and proceed to suck its juices. 

 Their movements are indescribably delicate and free. Nothing could be 

 lighter than their motions over the surface film, walking there without 

 making impression or ripple, and moving with the celerity of a spider." 



Hungerford states that the female "possesses an ovipositor 

 for inserting her eggs into the stems of plants and even in the 

 spongy wood of floating logs. The egg stage lasts seven to 

 nine days and the nymphs pass through five instars, spending 

 from two to three days in each stage. There is a succession of 

 generations throughout the season, each cycle requiring about 

 twenty-four days." 



590 ( — ). Mesovelia douglasensis Hungerford, 1924, 142. 



Smaller but more robust than mulsanti. Head, antennae, pronotum, 

 front half of mesonotum and middle of metanotum usually brown or 

 grayish-brown ; remainder of upper surface dull yellow, more or less 

 tinged with brown; beak, legs and under surface pale brownish-yellow; 

 tarsi and tip of beak darker. Tylus, basal joint of antennae and femora 

 each with one or more short setae. Antennae filiform, nearly as long as 

 body, joint 1 stoutest, shorter than head, feebly curved, 2 shortest, 3 and 

 4 very slender, the latter slightly the shorter, about double the length of 



