970 



FAMILY XXXI. — GERRID^E. 



ee. Color leaden-gray, wholly sericeous; eyes small, widely separated; 

 oceanic species. VI. Halobates, p. 986. 



I. Gerris Fabricius, 1794, 187. 



This genus comprises the largest and most familiar of our 

 water striders. In addition to the characters given in key they 

 have the body everywhere densely clothed with a short velvety 

 pile ; head stout, obtusely conical, its front portion moderately 

 declivent ; eyes very large, coarsely granulated ; joint 1 of an- 

 tennae longer and usually stouter than any of the others ; beak 



Anfenna 



Pig. L93. Gerris buenoi Kirk., X 7. (After Garman in Hemiptera of Connecticut). 



reaching onto mesosternum, the latter grooved ; pro- and meso- 

 nota fused, the former much the shorter; elytra in winged 

 forms reaching beyond middle, sometimes nearly to end of 

 abdomen, without distinct membrane, the veins elevated and 

 prominent ; dorsum of abdomen concave, its sides strongly re- 

 flexed ; apical angles of sixth ventral usually strongly prolonged 

 backward ; middle and hind legs much longer than front ones, 

 their coxa? prominent, projecting outward beyond the sides, 



