1038 FAMILY XXXVII. — NEPID^E. 



Carey, 111., August (Gerhard). Ranges from Ontario and New- 

 England west to Minnesota and Kansas and south to Arkansas 

 and Florida. This, according to Hungerford, is the R. protensa 

 Montd. (1910, 185) and of subsequent authors. It is more 

 slender with shorter breathing tube than fusca= (americana) 

 and lacks the preapical femoral tooth of that species. From 

 kirkaldyi it differs in the longer, much more slender front 

 femora and less widened apical third of pronotum. It was prob- 

 ably of this species that Uhler (1884, 254) under the name of 

 R. fitsca, wrote : 



"It delights to live among the muck and rubbish of shallow fresh 

 water, and may sometimes be seen lodged on the stems and leaves of the 

 pond-weed in basins of cold spring water. During the warm summer 

 weather it may be seen at times resting for an hour or more on the bot- 

 tom, stilted on its long legs, with its respiratory tube projected upward, 

 just a little above the surface of the water. At other times it searches 

 for the eggs of pond-fish, which it destroys by drawing out their con- 

 tents, and it occasionally attacks the young fish of other kinds, grasping 

 them with its fore claws and sucking their blood." 



1177 ( — ). Ranatra buenoi Hungerford, 1923b, 44. 



Dull gray to dark fuscous, front femora unicolorous; middle and hind 

 legs of the paler individuals indistinctly annulated. Eyes very promi- 

 nent, their diameter greater than width of interocular area. Front portion 

 of pronotum but very slightly wider at apex than at middle, about twice 

 as long as hind lobe (7.5 to 4 mm.). Prosternum with a single deep and 

 broad median groove (fig. 208, a). Front femora as in nigra, the sub- 

 median tooth larger, placed at apical two-fifths (fig. 208, d) . Hind 

 femora scarcely reaching end of abdomen ; hind tibias slightly surpassing 

 end of breathing tube. Length of body, 32 — 38 mm. ; of breathing tube, 

 22—27 mm. 



Raleigh and McCutters, N. Car., June — September (Brimley). 

 Its known range is southern, extending from Missouri to 

 Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Hungerford records the taking 

 of 17 males and 22 females at Gainesville, Fla., by Drake on 

 June 19. This is the R. fitsca of Bueno (1905d, 188) nee Beau- 

 vois. The single broad and deep sulcus of prosternum and 

 much longer breathing tube readily distinguish it from nigra, 

 its nearest ally. 



1178 (— ). Ranatra drakei Hungerford, 1923b, 451. 



Elongate-subcylindrical, long and slender for the genus. Dull brown- 

 ish-yellow, in life overcast with an orange tinge; legs not annulated. 

 Eyes very large and prominent, their diameter greater than the interocu- 

 lar width. Pronotum long and slender, its front portion with apex but 



