H EM IP T E R A .
BE LO STOM A IND IC A?
P la te 18.
S u b -O r d e r . H e m ip t e r it a , K irb y .
S e c t io n . H y d r o c o r isa , L a tr e ille .
N e p id ®, L ea ch .
B e lo s tom a , L a tr e ille . N e p a p, L in n .
B. “ squalid^ lute a , maculis fuscis, femoribus antic is nigro-line a tis, coxis q u a tuor
posticis im m a cula tis.” Long. Co rp . 3 unc.
B. d irty c lay coloured with brown spots, th e an te rio r femora M'ith b la ck lines, and
th e four posterior cox® imma cula te . Length 3 inches.
Be lostoma in d ic a ? E n c . M e th . X. p . 2 7 2 .
N e p a grandis, D o novan, I s i ed it. S to ll Cimie. 2. t. 7. / . 4 . (E x c lu s . synon.
L in n . F a b r . M e r ia n , R o s e l, a n d D e Ge e r.)
F a m il y .
G e n u s .
C n . Sp.
S y n .
M. Merian has given a plate and description o f the South American Belostoma
grandis in her work on the Insects o f Surinam. W e learn from that account, that in the
larva and pupa state it lives in the water ; that it is a voracious creature, and feeds not
only on the weaker kinds o f aquatic insects, but on some animals much larger than itself.
The p u p a * is represented on the back o f a large frog in the water, and is designed to
portray the manner in which it fastens on those creatures, holding them between its strong
curved fore feet, and extracting the ju ic e s o f their bodies through its singularly constructed
beak. M. Meriau says, the winged insect was produced from one o f these pupæ on the
twelfth o f May, 1710.
Every writer on this insect since M. Merian appears indebted to her for their account
o f these few particulars ; for though all the European species o f the same family undergo
precisely the same changes in their aquatic dwellings, among decayed vegetables, &c. at
the bottom o f the water, and quit it only in the winged sta te ,t we are indebted to her for
the time o f the appearance o f this exotic species in that state, as well as for a correct
figure o f its pupa.
Linnæus, following Merian, g ives Surinam as the country o f B. grandis; Margravius,
* T h e p u p a is sem i-com p le ta : u n lik e th e p u p a o f th e L ep id o p te ra , &c. it s c a rc e ly differs in ap p e a ran c e or
manne rs o f life from th e complete inse c t, b u t h a s only th e ru d im en ts o f th e wings. S e e th e lower figure in th e
a c com p an y in g pla te .
+ N ep a c inerea a n d linearis a re E n g lish species o f th is fam ily ; th e se live in th e wa te r till th e y have wings,
when they occasionally q u it it to pursue o th e r winged creatures.