144 THE UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
Genus BELOSTOMA Latr. 
There have been abundant biological notes in the literature regarding 
the common species of this genus. Most of these notes are under the 
heading Zaitha fluminea. The above-named species has been reared 
by Bueno and the nymphs described. The writer has also studied this 
species and reared it, adding some points to those recorded. Of these 
smaller Belostomatids there are nine species and two varieties in 
America north of Mexico, according to Van Duzee. Of these only three 
are general in distribution. The others are western, or neotropical. 
Those to be looked for generally are B. fluminegmB. lutarium and B. 
testaceum. 
Belostoma flumineum Say. 
Habitat. Uhler said it “abounds in mud or among the weeds of — 
ponds and streams.” Miss Slater found them most abundantly in 
shallow water quite near the shore, clinging to the under side of aquatic 
plants, especially Marsilia. The writer finds them in the muddy Kansas 
ponds, clinging to sticks and boards or trash projecting above the sur- 
face. In collecting, these facts should be kept in mind. Severin & 
Severin showed that 32 out of 85 crawled under a bit of cork in the 
shallow water. 
Hibernation. Like the other water bugs, they winter as adults in the 
trash or mud about the pool. Doctor Welch, in Nature Study Review 
(1912), has noted this in one of his popular papers on water insect life. 
Mating.—Mating takes place in the water, and lasts intermittently 
for hours. Bueno was the, first to note that oviposition is frequently 
interrupted by the female for the purpose of mating. 
Oviposition. This is perhaps the most interesting of all of this bug’s 
activities. It was long ago noted that the eggs are carried upon the 
back, but early writers ascribed this to the female. Miss Slater, 1899, 
was the first to correct the matter in this country, though she seemed to 
be unaware of the work of Schmidt, 1895. She first observed that the 
egg carriers were all males, and later had the opportunity to witness an 
aquarium struggle in which the female tried to place her burden upon 
her mate. Bueno described the process at some length: 
“The female places herself on top of the male, her thorax extending 
outward and her legs hooked under him; now, starting somewhere near 
the middle and sidling along every little while, she works her way 
around him as she fastens her eggs on his back by means of the water 
proof glue secreted for that purpose. The male all the while hangs from 
the surface, back up, with his legs Cano up under him, bravely bearing 
up under his burden.” . 
The male, he says, dislikes this “forced servitude.” Mr. Bueno 
thinks the eggs are placed in this unusual place to keep them from the 
voracious appetites of the adults, for he has seen males seize and 
greedily suck eggs that had been accidentally dislodged. 
Incubation. The length of the egg stage lasts from one to two weeks, 
as a rule. The egg, which is very large in proportion to the adult when 
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