168 prof. p. e. uiiler on TUB [Mar. 6, 



these are widely distributed in the Antilles, Mexico, Central 

 America, and the Isthmus of Panama. 



The Capsio^: are represented by 18 species, all but one of which 

 have been found in the Antilles, Mexico, Central America, and the 

 southern United States. 



The Coreid^e are represented by 17 species, a very few of which 

 are of large size, while most of them are widely distributed, occurring 

 from the Gulf States to the northern borders of South America. 



In the ANTHOCORiDiE we find a few genera and a total of 14 

 species. Those which are not new belong to forms peculiar to the 

 Gulf States, Mexico, Central America, and the Greater Antilles. 

 As these little creatures live much in concealment, amid tangled 

 vegetation and decaying leaves, and upon twigs, fungi, and mosses, 

 their distribution is but little restricted, and they extend over 

 large parts of the continental areas. 



In the Ceratocombid^; we meet with only 5 species, and these 

 are of the widely distributed forms which spread north from the 

 region of Brazil — Ptenidiophyes mirahilis, Reuter, being the only 

 one of these not yet found in the corresponding island of St. 

 Vincent. The collecting of these minute insects has been so 

 generally neglected that the time has not yet come for adequate 

 comparative statements to be made relative to the genera and 

 species belonging to different localities ; but the assemblage from 

 St. Vincent, as now known, is more varied and comprehensive 

 than that of Grenada. Four of the widely distributed species 

 occur in both islands, while the four other peculiar forms were 

 found in St. Vincent and not in Grenada. It is very unlikely 

 that these types are confined to St. Vincent, and we confidently 

 expect to see them discovered when the minute insects of Grenada 

 shall have been more exhaustively collected. 



The fauna of the littoral plain of the southern United States 

 includes several genera and species not yet discovered in the West 

 Indies, but it also embraces two or three species, particularly in 

 the genera Ceratocombus and Cryptostemma, which have an exten- 

 sive distribution in the central regions of America. 



Turning to the Veliid.e, we find them comparatively well 

 represented by fourteen species, rich in individuals. They exhibit 

 some interesting modifications of structure. The elongation of the 

 legs in one species of MicroveMa points to a closer relationship than 

 has hitherto been indicated between this group and that of the 

 Hydrobatidae. A genuine salt-water species, Rhagovelia pJumhca, 

 which also lives on the ocean about the Florida Keys and on the 

 coasts of Southern Florida, adds new interest to this peculiar 

 group of insects. This species is also noteworthy from the fact 

 that the sexes unite sexually in what would appear to be a larval 

 stage — the male being usually not more than one-half the bulk 

 of the female, and both being of weak integumentary structure, 

 and destitute of rudimentat'y wing-segments in the greater number 

 of specimens. No specimens with wing-covers have yet been 

 brought to notice. 



