38. Hydrophiiidae from the Lake* of Tiberias. 



By A. d'Orchymont. 

 {Communicated by Dr. N. Annandale.) 



The insects captured by Dr. Annandale at the Lake of 

 Tiberias in October 1912, comprise a few Hydrophiiidae, 

 represented only by two genera and six species, sixteen speci- 

 mens belonging to the tribe Hydrobiini in all. Little is known 

 of the geographical distribution of the Palpicornia in Syria, 

 and most of the papers published on the subject are fragmen- 

 tary. It seems therefore advantageous, although the material 

 now under examination is very scanty, to publish the following 

 notes as a further contribution in addition to the lists of 

 Syrian Hydrophiiidae given by Regimbart and Sahlberg {Revue 

 biol. Nord France V, 1893, p. 364 and Of vers Finsk Vet. Soc. 

 Forh. XLV, 1902-1903. n°18, p. 8). 



Enochrus (subg. Methydrus) ? nitidulus, Kuw. 



Syn. Philydrus (subg. Agraphilydrus) nitidulus Kuw. 

 D.E. Zeitschr. 1888, 280 , 290; Verh. Naturf. Ver Brunn. 



xxviii, 1890, 59. 



Two <$ (f seem to belong to this very little species. They 

 were captured at the edge of Lake Tiberias and on that of a 

 small spring on the shore three miles north of the town of 

 Tiberias. The example from the latter locality is less punctured 

 on the pronotum, so as to make its surface more polished. 

 In this species the antero-external and medio-external system- 

 atic rows of the pronotum are very conspicuous under a 

 binocular microscope, on account of the smoothness of the 

 surrounding punctuation. These rows occur also more or less 

 in the more strongly punctured European species of Methy- 

 drus, but they are of course not so easily observed. As the 

 absence of these rows is the only characteristic given by 

 authors for the subgenus Methydrus, this group may perhaps 

 not be a valid one. Several exotic species belonging to the 

 subg. Lumetus (Philhydrus, Sol.) are besides of the same 

 small size as most of the Melhydrus. The two specimens 

 under examination are provided with the little ciliate emar- 

 gination, independent of sex 1 , at the extremity of the fifth 



* cf. H. C. Fall, California Acad. Sc. Occasional Papers viii, 1702, 219. 



