76 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. xvii. 



The Buenoa known to a generation of American entomologists 

 as Anisops plaiycnemis was an undescribed species. The other two 

 forms were readily identified by reference toFieber (op. c, pp. 61-62), 

 as the true Buenoa platycnemis and its close congener B. elegans. In 

 passing it may be noted that these forms are so close that eventually 

 a sufficiently long series may prove them cospecific, but the time is 

 not yet for uniting them. 



In Standard Natural History'^ Uhler describes what he considers 

 to be Anisops platycneinis Fieber, mainly by color characters (a very 

 unreliable and misleading method in Hemiptera), but he makes the 

 concrete statement that the length is " about \ of an inch to the tip 

 of the wing covers." Now " about \ of an inch " may mean 6 mm. 

 or 7 mm., each of which differs from \ inch by a small fraction, the 

 former by only I'mm., or about yi^ in., and the latter by f mm., 

 equivalent to yfo^ in., which are almost negligible quantities when 

 considering an "about" dimension. At any rate, Fieber states that 

 \i\% Anisops platyoieviis is "2! lines" in length. A "line" being 

 yV of an inch, we therefore have an insect ^'y of an inch in length, 

 which differs but fractionally from 5 mm. (exactly .0085 in., or .21 

 mm.). This is one full millimeter shorter than Uhler's bug if we con- 

 sider it just i inch long, which in such a small insect is quite an appre- 

 ciable measurement, and one serving to separate species. Now, in my 

 " Notes on the Notonectidse of the Vicinity of New York," f I referred 

 to the species in question, of course, as Anisops platycnemis, as before 

 noted, and described it, mainly structurally, if rather briefly (p. 236). 

 There the dimensions are given as 67 mm. to 8.1 mm. long, and 2 

 to 2, 3 mm. broad. The shorter length, of course, is " about \ " inch, 

 and, taken in connection with Uhler's color characters with which it 

 agrees as closely as is to be expected in a character so variable as 

 is color in waterbugs, it is evident that the two descriptions refer to 

 the same insect. Again, Fieber distinctly says " Augen gross," which 

 is certainly not the case with the pseiido-platycnemis, because in this 

 form the eyes are not noticeably larger than the average in the genus, 

 whilst in the genuine they are. The synonymy of this species there- 

 fore becomes : 



Buenoa fnargaritacea Bueno, 1908, Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc, XVI, 

 4, p. 238. 



* 1882, Vol. II, p. 253. 



t 1902, Journ. N. Y. Eut. Soc, X, 4, pp. 230-236. 



