158 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi.xm. 



6. Notonecta mexicana Amyot & Serville. 



Notonecta mexicana. 



1843. A. & S., Hist. Nat. Ins., Hem., p. 453, pi. 8, fig. 7. 



1853. Herr.-r-'ch., Wan/. Ins., IX, p. 43. j>1. 294, fig. 903. 



1S84. Uhl., Stand. N. IT., p. 252. 



1.SS6. Uhl., Ch. List, p. 28. 



1894. Uhl., l'roc. Cal. Acad. S< i.. - r. 2, vol. IV, p. 292. 



1895. Gillette & Baker, Bull. 31, Colo. Agr. Exp. Sta., Tech. Ser. I, p. 63. 

 1897. Kirk., Tr. Ent. Soc. Lond., p. 401. 



1901. Champ., Biol. C.-A., Rhynch. II, p. 36S, Tab. 22, figs. 6, 6a-d. 



IC04. Kirk., Wien. Ent. Zeit., p. 114 and 132. 

 ugii. 



1851. I ill), Abh. Bohm. Ges. Wiss. (5), \ 11, p. 474. 



Description. — " Head narrow at base, parallel for a short space, then sinuately 

 diverging ; vertex from three and one half to four and a half times as wide as synth- 

 lipsis. Pronotum very transverse, about two and one half times wider than long. 

 lateral margins slightly sinuate, humeral margins gently and elongatelv curved, pos- 

 terior margin net sinuate ; humeral angles acute, accentuated. Metanotum not quite 

 half as long again as scutellum, black (dark vars. ) or violet brown margined with 

 luteous ( pale vars. ). Hemielvtra varying in color, membrane lobes subequal. Alse 

 semitransparent, smoky, nervures brown (pale vars. , or semitransparent smoky black, 

 nervures blackish-brown (dark vars.). Abdominis dorsum black (dark vars.), or 

 rufoluteous with paler genital segment-- (pale vars.). Abdominis venter varying 

 from black to testaceous." (Kirk., Rev., p. 401.) 



Long., II to 14 mm., lat., 4.5 to 4.8 mm. 



Distribution. — I'. S. National Museum collection : bright Angel, Hoi Spring-, 

 and Catalina Mts., Arizona; California. My collection : l'asadena and Sta. Clara, 

 California. " \Y. States'' (49), Eort Collins, Colorado (13). 



The shape of the head and the very transverse pronotum separate 

 it very readily from the other species of the genus. In his revision, 

 Kirkaldy goes at length into the color variations, and since his re- 

 marks cover the ground exactly, I reproduce them here : " The hemi- 

 elytra are usually rich scarlet, with black membrane, but the latter hue 

 often extends beyond the apical margins of the clavus and corium ; 

 the scarlet also varies much in shade, graduating in one direction to 

 pale greenish-white through pale yellow, pale olive-green, dee]) yel- 

 low, orange, and pinkish, and in the other through crimson and violet- 

 red to deep violet-black, though in the last, the sutures of the hemi- 

 elytral divisions are usually narrowly violet-red ; in some specimens 

 the apex of the corium is black, from the base of the membrane to 

 the margins of the hemielvtra in a straight line, and the rest of the 

 hemielytra are rich crimson. The hemielvtra are rarely maculate, 

 occasionally the center of the cl.ivocorial suture has a more or less 



