G8 [August, 



says, " ihr letztes Griied unci die Spitze des vorletzten schwarz ;" Horvath, " articulo 

 quarto toto dimidioque apicali ai-ticuli tertii uigris." This species, however, is not 

 the thoracica, auctorum, but the aspera, Fieber (I possess specimens from Dr. 

 Horvath), whereas the thoracica of Herrich-Schaffer, Fieber, Douglas and Scott, 

 Stal and Sahlberg, are all the same species. The description of the antennse, given 

 by Scliummel (Ploteres, p. 47), also confirms the idea that these authors have 

 rightly understood liis views of the species. 



The question, is, however, complicated by the description by Herr Sahlberg, in 

 Not. Fenn., xiv, p. 253 ; for while his diagnosis of thoracica refers to the species of 

 Scliummel, Herrich-SchafPer, etc., his descrijjtion of the $ is only copied from Dr. 

 Flor's above-cited wort. Sahlberg has never seen a <? of the true thoracica, which 

 is very scai-ce in Finland (in the Finnish collections there exists, I think, only one 

 specimen, found by me), and he, supposing the thoracica of Flor to be the same as 

 liis own (and Fieber's) species, has simply transcribed the description of the J fi-om 

 the Livonian entomologist ; the diagnosis is made from and accords with female 

 specimens of the true thoracica. 



Perhaps the question of the synonymy of this species may be properly closed 

 by the following extract from Dr. Horvath's letter of the 16th March last in answer 

 to, and in confirmation of, suggestions by me in a letter to him, and I trust that he 

 will pardon the publication thereof : " Was Limnotrechus thoracicus, m., und pleheius, 

 m., betrifft, so muss ich es leider gestehen, dass ich bei der Unterscheidung dicser 

 zwei Arten durch Floi-'s (und theilweise auch Sahlberg's) Beschreibung irre gefiihrt 

 worden bin. Mcinen einzigen thoracicus, va., ,^ , hat auch Herr Dr. Puton unter- 

 sucht und gefunden, dass derselbe nur aspera, Fieb., ist. Die Synonymic dieser zwei 

 Arten wiire demnach eine folgende : 1, thoracicus, aut. (excl. Flor, Horv.), = plebeiiis, 

 Horv. ; 2, aspera, Fieb., Stal, Sahib., = thoracicus, Flor, Horv. — Schummel's 

 Beschreibung von Gerris thoracica ist ziemlich allgemein gehalten und sagt iiber 

 das 6te Bauehsegraent nur so viel : ' Scchstes Hinterleibsglied schwiicher ausgorandet 

 als bei den vorigen Arten ' (d. h. lacustris, gibhifera, lateralis, odontogaster).* Die 

 Ite Art ist bei uns schr gemein, wahrend die 2te Art liochst selten ist ; es ist bisher 

 aus Ungarn nur ein einziges, in meiner Sammlung befindliches exemplar (<J ) bekannt. 

 Es ist merkwiirdig, dass in Finnland gerade das Gegentheil vorzukommen scheint." 

 —0. M. Eeuter, Abo, Finland : 8;!/* July, 1879. 



[This note by Dr. Reuter is of much interest, not only as confirmatory of my 

 own opinion, but as elucidating Sahlberg's thoracica and identifying Flor's and 

 Horvath's thoracica with Fieber's aspera. — J. W. D.f]. 



Aepophil us Bo)inairei, a remarkable new Hemlpterous insect. — At the meeting 

 of the Entomological Society of France on the 11th May last, Dr. Signoret exhibited 

 examples of a new Hemipterous insect of such anomalous character that he cannot 

 determine its affinities, and the description and account of it are so interesting that 

 I reproduce them from the " Bulletin de la Soc. ent. de France," No. 9, 1879. The 

 generic name is derived fi"om the community of the habitat of the Hemipteron with 

 Aepus Eoblni, a beetle that lives on the shore below high -water mark, and as this 



* This character refers to the " Oberseite des Hinterleibes," not to the ventnil segments. — 

 O. M. R. 



t Since this article was in type, I have received from Dr. Horvath a letter to the same 

 effect.— J. W. D. 



