OF WATERBUGS, ESPECIALLY OF CORIXIDAE. 35 



facts were elicited. At the close of 1900 Handlirsch (18) summed 

 up the greater part of the previous literature in a valuable paper, 

 and confirmed Landois' account — considering also, however, that 

 the remarkable " strigil," discovered by F. B. White in 1873 

 (6a), was a stridulating organ. Handlirsch extended his in- 

 vestigations to the allied genera Cymatia and Mici'onecta, and 

 considered that possibly the long curiously shaped tarsal claw 

 (in the males) in these genera had some connection with the 

 production of the sounds. 



In January 1901, unaware of Handlirsch's paper, I published 

 a brief note (19), dealing principally with Carpenter's note (13), 

 and expressing my belief that stridulation was caused by the 

 movement of the anterior tarsi, not on the rostrum, but on a 

 specially modified area (which I figured) of the 02:>2)osite femora. 



The purpose of the present memoir is to draw attention in 

 Britain to this interesting subject, and thus ascertain how the 

 stridulation is actually caused. Unfortunately, press of other 

 work compels me to deal with it at present in a very incomplete 

 manner. 



One of the most remarkable facts, which is discussed somewhat 

 in detail, is that the stridulatory organs in the genus Co7'ixa are 

 so diversely formed that it is possible to distinguish the various 

 species (in the male sex), from an examination of those organs only. 

 This is, I believe, unique up to the present among the Rhynchota. 



An examination of the type of the genus Corixa (viz., C. 

 geoffroyi Leach, which happens to be the largest and one of the 

 commonest and most widely distributed of the palsearctic species), 

 reveals a large number of regular and irregular spines and 

 " teeth " on various parts of the bug. Many of the spines and 

 bristly hairs are found in both sexes, but the " teeth " (presently 

 to be described) and many of the spines are only found in the 

 male sex. All observers have agreed in asserting that the sounds 

 have not been heard from females.* 



In Corixa geoffroyi (and indeed in all the British species of 



* The remarkable sternal stridulatory areas found in almost all the 

 great predaceous family of land-bugs (Reduviidae), except the aberrant 

 sub-families Enicocephalinae and Xabinae are present in both sexes. In 

 the common bed-bug {Kliftophilos lechdarius) only the female apparently 

 possesses musical powers, while, on the contrary, in Corixidae, it is only 

 the males. 



