CREEPING WATER-BUGS. 2T 
most helpless when on dry land. Once upon their back they are 
hardly able to turn over; nor can they readily fly away from 
the pavement, as their long wings keep striking the stones and 
simply make the insect turn in circles. Their beak is so short 
that the bug can be handled with impunity. Still it should be 
borne in mind that they can inflict very painful, perhaps serious 
wounds. 
There is another large bug found in our waters, also be- 
longing to this family. It is shown in Fig. 14. The Zaitha 
flumimea Say measures nearly an inch in length, is of a pale clay- 
yellow color, an oblong ovate, with a round scar on each side of 
the unevenly roughened prothorax. This species, as well as all 
Fic. 14.—Zaitha flauminea Say, and Serphus dilatatus Say, with eggs on back. 
After Glover. 
others belonging to the same genus, possess the peculiar and re- 
markable habit of carrying their eggs upon their own backs, 
where they hatch, and the young are shaken off to make their 
own living as well as they can. The eggs are fastened side by 
side, in an upright position, upon the back of the mother, by 
means of a long, protrusile, tube-like ovipositor. The bugs are 
also carnivorous. 
FAMILY NAUCORIDAE. 
Creeping Water-bugs). 
These small, flat-bodied, chiefly oval insects, are very un- 
common in our state, and only a single species occurs, the Pelo- 
