notonecta Ent.
(nəʊtəˈnɛktə)
Also 7–8 as pl., with sing. -nectum.
[mod.L., f. noto- + Gr. νήκτης swimmer.]
A species of water-beetle which swims on its back; the boat-fly.
| 1658 Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. ii. xxxviii, Of the Notonectum. Ibid., We call some Insects of the water Notonecta, which do not swim upon their bellies, as the rest do. 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey), Notonecta, certain Water-Insects,..always swimming on their Backs. 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 63 The rostrum or snout of the Notonecta is inflected. Ibid., The grey Notonecta.., the little Boat-fly. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1790) VII. 359 The Common Water Fly..is by some called Notonecta. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Org. Nat. II. 351 Hence the Notonecta..is generally known as the boat-fly. 1887 Amer. Naturalist XXI. 578 The Notonecta can, in an emergency, avail itself of a method of purifying its supply of air. |