III. On the Classification of the Natural Tribe of Insects Notonectides, with Descriptions of the British Species.By William Elford Leach, M.D. F.R.S. and L.S.
Read April 4, 1815.
Before laying down the characters of this interesting and natural tribe of insects, it may not be deemed improper to give a very short account of what has been done by preceding entomologists.
Linné and all his predecessors comprehended the species under the generic appellation Notonecta. The accurate Geoffroy was the first who separated Notonecta into two genera, which have been adopted by most succeeding writers, excepting Linné, who in the last edition of his Systema Naturtæ has merely given the synonyms of that author, without taking the least notice of the important characters which induced him to separate them.
De Geer confounded the animals of this tribe with Nepa and Naucoris, whilst Latreille and Olivier placed them in a division of their family Hydrocoriscæ.
In the Edinburgh Encyclopedia I separated them from the Hydrocoriscæ, and placed them in a particular tribe, named in that work Notonectides, which term I shall adopt in the following little essay.
