March, 1913-] Barber : Aquatic Hemiptera. 29 



T. Carolina Linne. 



Bronxville, N. Y., V (Woodruff) ; Yaphank, N. Y., VII; Wading 

 River, N. Y., VIII ; Staten Island, IV, V, VI, VII, IX, X ; Newfound- 

 land, N. J., IX; Great Notch, N. J., V; Jamesburg, N. J., IX; Lake- 

 hurst, N. J., IV, 25, 1908, many individuals and a pair in copulation; 

 VI, VIII. Only two or three of our dragonflies have as long a season 

 as this, namely from April to October. We quote the following from 

 the " Preliminary List of the Dragonflies of Staten Island with notes 

 and Dates of Capture" (this Journal, Sept., 1898): "On July 15, 

 1894, a male Tramea Carolina was flying over one of the Four Corners 

 iron mine ponds. Soon a female came and commenced dipping her 

 abdomen into the water. In a moment she was seized by the male and 

 they flew away. In a half hour they were back and went flying about 

 together, the male now and then suddenly letting go his hold and with 

 equal rapidity catching the female again by the neck. Other male 

 dragonflies flew after them and when the female stopped to lay eggs, 

 they annoyed her considerably. The chief among the disturbers was 

 a Libellida basalis. After a time the male Tramea left his mate and 

 she was quickly seized by the aforesaid Lihellnla basalis, after which 

 they flew about together for a considerable time. After letting go his 

 hold once and flying down the pond, the L. basalis returned and seized 

 the Tramea a second time." 



AQUATIC HEMIPTERA. 



By H. G. Barber, 

 RosELLE Park, N. J. 



The aquatic Hemiptera have excellent and frequently wonderful 

 adaptations to their environment, exhibiting among them most mar- 

 velous variability of construction for their life in or on the water. 

 The local, strictly aquatic species, belong to ten families of the hete- 

 ropterous Hemiptera. These for convenience of treatment of relation 

 of adaptations to habit may be grouped into (i) those which spend 

 their active existence on the surface of the water, (2) those which 

 habitually walk about upon some substratum beneath the water and 

 (3) those which are, for the most part, free swimmers. 



