1 62 S. J. HOLMES. 



resumption of the feint ; in others it had no effect. This, too, is 

 different from the characteristic reaction of the adults which, when 

 they awaken from the feint, can readily be caused to resume 

 feigning many times in succession by handling or gently stroking 

 them. And if an adult is picked up while feigning it is rarely 

 brought out of its feint by this means. 



It is a curious fact that while the mature Ranatra will endure 

 all sorts of maltreatment during the death feint, even suffering its 

 legs to be cut off one by one or its body cut in two without the 

 least response, the moment the insect is placed in the water the 

 death feint entirely disappears. There is no way in which the 

 feint can be terminated so quickly and completely as by this 

 means. Nor is it possible by any sort of manipulation to cause 

 the insect to feign death so long as it is in the water. It is cer- 

 tainly remarkable that an insect that will feign, it may be for 

 hours, with its muscular system tense so that all its appendages 

 are perfectly stiff should so completely and suddenly change its 

 behavior when it is placed in another medium. 



In Ranatras of five days old or less the death feint often per- 

 sists for a time after they are placed in water. They do not, as 

 a rule, swim directly away, as the adults do, but frequently remain 

 motionless and apparently still for several seconds, or in some 

 cases for over a minute. When in the air the duration of the 

 death feint of the young is increased if they are kept wet. Speci- 

 mens that refuse to feign when rubbed with a dry camel's hair brush 

 can commonly be made to do so by rubbing them with a brush 

 dipped in water. And when specimens cannot be induced to 

 feign by this means they can generally be thrown into a feint by 

 dipping them into water and then leaving them on the table. 

 Dryness produces in the young a restlessness that is not shown 

 by the adult, a result not improbably due to their less ability 

 to withstand lack of water. 



The young, like the mature forms, can be cut in two while in 

 the death feint without causing any response. A specimen which 

 was cut across near the middle of the body showed no movement 

 in either piece ; the legs were rigid, but after being poked about 

 for some time they began to move. Handling the anterior piece 

 failed to cause it to feign again, but when it was dipped into the 



