No. 34.] HEMIPTERA OF CONNECTICUT: BELOSTOMATIDAE. 399 



muddy pond bottoms, and in spring emerge to breed as soon as 

 the ice is off the ponds and the water gets warm. The female by 

 main force glues her eggs to the back of the reluctant and strug- 

 gling male. After ten days or so, the eggs open by a lid and the 

 young emerge. They molt five times and reach the adult stage in 

 thirty-five to forty-two days from hatching. This gives a total 

 period of development of forty-five to fifty-four days, so that three 

 broods are a summer possibility. 



New Haven, 24 Aug., 1913 (B. H. W.) ; New Canaan, 17 Sept., 1918 

 (B. H. W.) ; 30 Apr., 1919 (M. P. Z.) ; Hamden, 7 June, 1919, Cornwall, 

 12 Oct, 1919 (K. F. C). 



B. testaceum (Leidy). 



Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Ser. 2, i, 60, 1847. 



(reticulata Haldeman. Stansb. Exped., 370, 1852.) 



This little species has been taken only occasionally in New York 

 and New Jersey, but there seems to be no reason why it should not 

 also be found in Connecticut. Its small size and blunt tylus 

 distinguish it from its two larger cousins. 



The little known about its habits indicates their similarity with 

 those of the other members of the genus. 



Family NEPIDAE. 



By J. R. DE LA TORRE-BUENO. 



This is perhaps one of the most curious and interesting families 

 of the Heteroptera. The devices that adapt the species to a sub- 

 aquatic life are among the most unique among insects. Like all 

 waterbugs, they are transmogrified land bugs changed in certain 

 particulars to enable them to cope with another element. So the 

 Nepidae are provided with what looks like two tails, but is, in fact, 

 a respiratory tube split lengthwise, through which air is taken 

 direct from the atmosphere, while the bug stays a safe distance 

 under water. These forms have also three pairs of peculiar open- 

 ings in the abdomen, so-called false spiracles. No one seems to 

 know their object, but it is suspected that they may be used in 

 extracting oxygen direct from the water by osmosis. The anterior 

 legs also are much modified, into scissors-like claws for seizing 

 their victims, since they are predaceous in a high degree. The 

 two American genera may be separated thus : 



Key to Genera. 



Body flat, broad Nepa 



Body round, linear, narrow Ranatra 



Nepa Linnaeus. 



This genus has only one known American representative, which 

 the generic key will serve to distinguish. 

 N. apiculata Uhler. (PL xvi, I.) (Fig. 41.) 



Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, xix, 440, 1878. 



