THE CREEPING WATER-BUGS. 1029 



curved at apical fourth, front angles obtuse, slightly prolonged; hind 

 margin subtruncate, disk with median portion moderately convex, rough- 

 ened or uneven, without distinct tubercles or grooves. Scutellum indis- 

 tinct, apparently fused with the elytra. Elytra with base as wide as 

 pronotum, apex conjointly broadly rounded, the median suture indicated 

 only by a feeble groove. Connexivum narrowly exposed, its margin 

 entire. Other characters as above given. Length, 7.4 — 7.8 mm. ; width, 

 5.3 — 5.5 mm. 



Dunedin, Fla., Feb. 21 — March 20 ; one female and one nymph 

 taken from the mucky margin of a pond, a third from the maws 

 of a spider beneath a gunny sack in an orange groove. Re- 

 corded from Charlotte Harbor, Ft. Myers and Enterprise, Fla. 

 Described from Georgia and known only from those two states. 



Family XXXVI. NAUCORIM] Fallen, 1814, 3, 15. 



The Creeping Water-bugs. 



Oval, subdepressed aquatic Heteroptera of medium size, hav- 

 ing the head large, wider than long, vertical in front, inserted 

 in thorax to middle of the large lunate eyes; ocelli wanting; 

 beak short, 3-jointed, acute, its base covered by the large flat 

 labrum ; antennae short, 4-jointed, in repose concealed in clefts 

 beneath the eyes; pronotum much wider than long; scutellum 

 broadly triangular, obtuse at tip ; elytra coriaceous, clavus and 

 corium distinct, membrane feebly differentiated ; legs short, 

 subequal in length, front ones inserted on or near the front of 

 prosternum, raptorial, with femora usually much swollen ; mid- 

 dle and hind legs slender, fitted for crawling, their tarsi 2- 

 jointed and ending in long claws. 



The family is a small one comprising about nine genera and 

 represented by nearly 60 described species, many of them 

 synonyms. Of these but two genera and thirteen species are 

 known from North America and but one genus and two species 

 from our territory. Of their habits Uhler (1884, 259) says: 

 "They are fond of reedy and grassy quiet waters where they 

 move about like the Dytiscid beetles, creeping and half swim- 

 ming around and between the leaves and sprays of the sub- 

 merged plants and suddenly seizing any unlucky Corisa or other 

 insect that happens to be within reach." The principal liter- 

 ature treating of our species is by Stal, 1876 ; Uhler, 1884 ; 

 Montandon, 1898; Champion, 1901, and Bueno, 1903, 1907b. 



