eid 
HUNGERFORD: AQUATIC HEMIPTERA. 153 
tuated and subparallel, two each side on the anterior part, the posterior 
part with two oblique carine arising from the anterior median carina 
and quite divergent behind. The anterior depression of the pronotum 
largely semicircular, with the anterior angles quite narrowed, in almost 
right angles, subacute. 
“Seutum with three longitudinal carine, the median continuing 
quite plainly clear to the apex of the scutum, the two lateral slightly di- 
verging behind, vanishing on the middle of the sides of the’scutum, which 
are slightly sinuate before the end. 
“Coria insensibly and gradually widened behind on their basal halves, 
giving their greatest width behind the middle and narrowing thereafter; 
membrane well developed, regularly subrounded at the extremity. Com- 
_missure of the clavus almost twice longer than the scutum. 
“Appendages short, quite robust toward the base, attenuated there- 
after, about half the length of the abdomen. 
“Anterior femora quite robust, as long as the pronotum on its lateral 
edges, with a single median tooth easily visible on the inner edge of the 
groove where the folded-up tibia is lodged, this tooth is very visibly closer 
to the base than the apex of the femur; the external side of the groove 
appears also denticulate, as if notched on the basal third of the femur. 
Neither teeth nor sinuosities toward the apex of the femur. 
“Anterior coxe half the length of their femora. Anterior tibia quite 
long, blackish, with a pale annulation toward the base and the apical 
thirds likewise pale; the extremity of the tarsi come to the basal third 
of the femur when the tibia is folded back against the latter. 
“Intermediate and posterior legs short, the end of the posterior femora, 
which are a little shorter than their tibize, do not reach the suture of the 
last abdominal segment. Intermediate tibize a third shorter than their 
femora. Intermediate and posterior tarsi with their claws less than half 
as long as their tibie. 
~ 
=~ eo 
“Median longitudinal part of the prosternum slightly saddle-backed, 
projecting im all its width, more elevated than the lateral pieces, a little 
flattened and traversed its whole length by a fine median groove; very 
obtusely tuberculate in its anterior part. 
“A greater space between the intermediate coxe (hanches) than the 
anterior or posterior coxe. 
“Length, 19 mm.; maximum width a little behind the middle of the 
corium, 4.5 mm.; at base of the pronotum, 3.8 mm.; length of appen- 
dages, 7.7 mm. ; 
“Victoria, Tex., a single specimen, U. S. N. M.” 
Genus RANATRA Fabr. 1790. 
The bugs of this genus are long and very slender, resembling the 
sticks and trash amongst which they lurk in the water. The body is 
cylindrical and elongate. The head small and triangular and the beak 
short. The eyes are prominent. The prothorax is elongate cylindrical, 
and not as wide as the width across the eyes. The fore legs are rap- 
torial, with the femur much longer than the tibiz. The middle and hind 
limbs are slender and long, and ‘serve it well in creeping about in the 
submerged trash or vegetation. Van Duzee lists seven species for 
America north of Mexico. One of these, Ranatra grisea Bueno, has no 
description and is only a manuscript name. It appeared in Bueno’s 
list of Heteroptera in Smith’s Insects of New Jersey, 1910. 
On the other hand, Van Duzee places kirkaldyi Bueno as a synonym 
of R. fusca, and Mr. Bueno assures me it is a good species. The descrip- 
tion in literature is unsatisfactorily brief. 
