THE BACK-SWIMMERS. 1061 



densely punctate. Scutellum more sparsely and irregularly punctate. 

 Elytra with sides strongly declivent. Other characters as under generic 

 heading. Length, 1.8—2.2 mm. (Fig. 214). 



Marion Co., Ind., Sept. 23 ; taken from among water weeds 

 along the edges of a pond largely filled with calcareous sedi- 

 ment ; probably occurs throughout 

 the State. Dunedin and Ft. Myers, 

 Fla., Nov. 24 — April 6. Common 

 in ponds about Dunedin and nu- 

 merous specimens taken at Ft. 

 Myers from the muck of an ex- 

 tinct wet weather pond. No previ- 

 ous definite Florida station has 

 been recorded. Ranges from New Fig. 214. Female with ovipositor 



exserted, X 18. (After Hungerford) . 



England west to Illinois and Kan- 

 sas, and southwest to Florida, Texas, Southern California, Cen- 

 tral America and the West Indies. Bueno (1905b, 47) says of 

 it : "This small bug is abundant from early spring until late 

 fall, hiding among the fine-leaved aquatic plants and algae, 

 where it swims about in quest of food, crawling on the stems 

 and the matted fibers." It feeds mainly on Entomostraca and 

 the eggs are inserted in the soft tissues of water plants. A 

 robust specimen at hand from Ft. Myers, Fla., has the claval 

 suture distinct, punctures much more dense, each enclosing 

 a short seta ; base of pronotum more broadly rounded, with 

 hind margin less concave. Aside from color it appears to be 

 an intermediate form between striola and harnedi. 



1203 (— ). Plea harnedi Drake, 1922a, 114. 



Yellowish-gray with prominent fuscous markings. Head as in key; 

 pronotum largely fuscous, an oblong spot behind middle of front margin, 

 sides and hind margin, grayish-yellow; scutellum fuscous, tip paler; 

 clavus and an irregular stripe along middle of corium fuscous; legs yel- 

 lowish-brown, coxae and trochanters blackish, tips of femora and third 

 tarsal fuscous; beak and under surface blackish. Elytra short, strongly 

 declivent behind. Dorsal surface somewhat flattened at the scutellum. 

 Other characters as in key. Length, 2.3 mm. 



Described from Fayette, Miss. ; not recorded elsewhere. It 

 is very probable that this will prove to be only a color form of 

 P. striola. The distinctness of the claval suture is, as shown 

 above, a variable and unreliable character. 



