THE WATER SCORPIONS. 1037 



than in allied species. Antenna? straight without lateral projections, the 

 third joint often fused with second. Median third of pronotum dis- 

 tinctly narrower than apical and basal portions. Front femora not nar- 

 rowed near the submedian tooth, shorter and stouter than in any of our 

 other species (fig. 208, b) . Prosternum with middle somewhat convex 

 and with an impressed line each side. Abdominal filaments shorter than 

 abdomen, the hind tarsi reaching beyond their middle. Length of body, 

 23—30 mm. ; of breathing tube, 16—20 mm. 



Lake, Starke and DeKalb counties, Ind., May — August. R. 

 P. Park, Fla., March 28 (IV. S. B.). Wolf Lake, Ind., Nov. 17 

 (Gerhard). Milburnie, Kipling and Raleigh, N. Car., November — 

 March (Brimley). Ranges from Massachusetts west to South 

 Dakota and Kansas and south to Florida. Minnesota speci- 

 mens, according to Hungerford, are shorter and more robust 

 than typical kirkaldyi and the front femora have a well marked 

 sinuosity near the inner apex. To them he has given the 

 varietal name hoffmanni. R. kirkaldyi is our smallest eastern 

 species. The front femora are but little longer than the coxse 

 and usually with distinct pale and dark rings, and the pronotum 

 is relatively more narrowed at middle than in its allies. It was 

 made a synonym of R. fusca by Montandon and Van Duzee, but 

 is rightfully considered distinct by Hungerford (1923b, 440). 



1176 (1385). Ranatra nigra Herrich-Schaeffer, 1853, 32. 



Pale to dull brownish- or grayish-yellow; front legs not annulate, the 

 knees and tips of tarsi darker; middle and hind legs feebly annulated. 

 Eyes prominent, but less so than in buenoi. Pronotum relatively short, 

 its front lobe about two and a fourth times the length of hind one, but 

 little enlarged in front. Front femora long and slender, more than one- 

 half longer than coxa?, distinctly narrowed in front of the submedian 

 tooth (fig. 208, c) ; hind femora reaching tip of elytra. Abdominal fila- 

 ments shorter than abdomen, the hind tibia? reaching their tip. Length 

 of body, 30 — 32 mm.; of breathing tube, 18 — 21 mm. 



Starke, DeKalb, Kosciusko and Marion counties, Ind., July — 

 October; probably occurs throughout the State. Dunedin and 

 R. P. Park, Fla., Nov. 20 — Dec. 12. Four specimens were taken 

 at Dunedin from a mass of water weeds in a ditch opening into 

 a large pond and one at R. P. Park from a bunch of Potamogeton 

 in a canal dug in the surface limestone. These Florida ex- 

 amples are a uniform slate-gray and have the respiratory tube 

 23 — 25 mm. long. Otherwise they agree in all particulars with 

 those from Indiana. The only other known Florida specimen 

 is in the U. S. National Museum without definite station record. 



