ITS TIIK JAXADIVN KNToMOI.«W:iST. 



it in force. When it struggles, they beat a hasty retreat ; but if it quiets 

 but for an instant they arc on it again, piercing it at the joints of the legs 

 or in the sutures between the segments, until the victim of their voracity 

 perishes, exhausted by its struggles and unable to overcome the actively 

 poisonous saliva Microvelia injects. Then all feast at their ease, some 

 perched upon the carcase, others sucking at the joints, until they are filled 

 to satiation. Hut at a pinch, when there are no living victims, they do not 

 disdain long-dead and gamcy food, and I have often seen them feeding on 

 decaying flies, as much as two and three days old, and which smelt to the 

 four winds. 



In regard to their manner of progression. Uhler (I. c) says it " runs 

 with astonishing rajiidity, but not with the rowing impulses of 

 Ltmnotrec/ius" and Kirkaldy' describes the gait of Microvelia pygmaa of 

 Europe in these words : " Their gait may be described best as a ' scuttle,' 

 a series of very t]uick short steps, the femora being almost horizontal. 

 They move very rapidly, but rarely sustain the effort long — the opposite 

 legs arc moved alternaidy.'' He goes on to say that ihey apparently have 

 very feeble adhesive powers, and are unable to mount a perpendicular 

 glass surface, but this is only natural when it is considered that the claws 

 are subapical, and that there do not appear to be any pulvilli. In the 

 main, these two accounts cover .1/. americana, but in addition I have 

 observed it to move with the rowing imjnilses of the other Gerrids. This, 

 however, happens only when it is far from shore, or closely pursued and 

 making desjierate efforts to escape, and iis ordinary gait is of no avail. 

 This 1 have seen, but not very often, both in nature and in my acpiaria. 



The MiitovfUte are cleanly bcasiies, and indeed, the nature of their 

 velvety covering and the many tactile and other hairs which abound on 

 their bodies, make it imperative that they should keep themselves in good 

 condition, and accordingly, a good pait of their time is spent in cleaning 

 themselves. Kiikaldy (I. c.) observed the toilette of M. />yi^in,m, and 

 describes in detail how the legs are employed in the dry wash, and the 

 careful manner in which the antenna' are cleaned. In the macropterous 

 adults, the wings aie lifted and the legs passed under them. I have been 

 so fotlunale as to be able to observe Af. atneriiaua in this tidying process 

 more than once, and on one of these occasions careful notes were made 

 while one of the little fellows in my acjuarium was thus engaged, and this 



7. 1800, KNTt^MOi.oclsT, Vol. XXXII. *' A Guide to the Study of British 

 Wilier Hutjs (Aijuatie Rhyncliota), ' p. iij. 



