1046 FAMILY XXXVIII. — BELOSTOMATID>£. 



her eggs on his back by means of the water-proof glue secreted for that 

 purpose. The male all the while hangs from the surface, back up, with 

 his legs curled up under him, bravely bearing up under his burden. The 

 egg-bearing male, however, like others of the same sex, dislikes exceed- 

 ingly this forced servitude and does all he can to rid himself of his bur- 

 den. From time to time he passes his third pair of legs over the dorsum, 

 apparently in an endeavor to accomplish his purpose. In general, how- 

 ever, he keeps to his position at the surface, and every now and then 

 moves up and down quite rapidly with a peculiar springy motion. If he 

 is not able to get rid of it, as sometimes happens, he carries his burden 

 till in due time, some ten days or so, all the little ones are emerged, 

 when he at last frees himself from it. This egg bearing of the male, I 

 imagine, is for the purpose of protecting the ova from the voracious 

 appetites of the adults. I have observed males that succeeded in casting 

 off the unhatched ova, seize them and greedily suck them. The females, 

 also, are not free from this vice. 



"In emerging, the young nymph escapes through a lid at the top of 

 the egg, and when all, or at least the greater part, of the ova are empty, 

 the male casts off the entire mass of shells and goes about his business. 

 The same female may again burden him, and so far as aquarium observa- 

 tions go, she deposits several batches of eggs, averaging from 25 to 125 

 each, so she may become the mother of a progeny running into the 

 hundreds." 



Of the eight species of Belostoma recorded by Van Duzee from 

 North America, three 1 " : occur in our territory. 



KEY TO EASTERN SPECIES OF BELOSTOMA. 



a. Length, 20 or more mm. 



b. Head but slightly longer than front lobe of pronotum, the tylus 



less convex, not prominent; claval commissure distinctly shorter 



than scutellum; form more narrow, less tapering behind middle 



of elytra. 1185. fluminea. 



hb. Head as long as middle of pronotum; tylus more convex, very 



prominent; claval commissure equal to or longer than scutellum; 



form more broadly oval, strongly tapering behind middle of 



elytra. 1186. lutarium. 



an. Length less than 20 mm.; head and tylus as in fluminea, its apex 



more blunt. 1187. testaceum. 



1185 (1393). Belostoma fluminea Say, 1832, 38; I, 364. 



General color varying from a nearly uniform brownish-yellow to fus- 

 cous-brown; legs usually with large dark spots, the front femora often 

 black beneath. Disk of pronotum finely transversely rugulose and granu- 

 late, the sides nearly straight. Scutellum with fine lengthwise rugae at 

 middle of basal portion and transverse ones near apex. Elytra with 



l0 *The /»'. boscii Lep. & Serv. (usually listed as Zaitha union U.S., a synonym) 

 is recorded by Van Duzee (1917, 468) from "Carolina," Florida. Arizona and Cali- 

 fornia. No definite eastern record can be found. The nearest approach to one is 

 that of Uhler (1894a, 22X). where he says: "The habits of this species in Grenada 

 seem to be the same as in Florida and the southwestern states." It is, therefore, not 

 included in this work. 



