HUNGERFORD: AQUATIC HEMIPTERA. 153 



tuated and subparallel, two each side on the anterior part, the posterior 

 part with two oblique carinse 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. 



"Scutum with three longitudinal carinae, 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 

 ai-e slightly sinuate before the end. 



"Coria insensibly and gradually widened behind on their basal halves, 

 giving their greatest width behind the middle and narro^^^ng 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 coxte half the length of their femora. Anterior tibia quite 

 long, blackish, with a pale annulaticn toward the base and the apical 

 thii-ds 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 tibi?e, do not reach the suture of the 

 last abdominal segment. Intermediate tibiae a third shorter than their 

 femora. Intermediate and posterior tarsi with their claws less than half 

 as long as their tibiae. 



"Median longitudinal part of the prosternum slightly saddle-backed, 

 projecting in 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 coxae (hanches) than the 

 anterior or posterior coxae. 



"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 tibis. 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. 



