10 HENRY H. P. SEVERIN AND HARRY C. SEVERIN 



Our results as seen from Table I are entirely different from 

 those of Fabre. There is a wide variability in the duration of 

 the first five feints in the different individuals under uniform 

 conditions. A glance horizontally across the columns shows a 

 considerable amount of variation in the time of corresponding 

 feints in the specimens, and a glance down any column shows 

 that the duration of successive death feints in each individual 

 also varies, while even the averages of the first five feints shows 

 a variability. 



8. How long can successive death feints he continued? Fabre 

 (6, p. 1 6) found that the Carabid, Scarites gigas, Fab. could not 

 be induced to feign indefinitely. " Tot ou tard, ahuri par mes 

 tracasseries, les Scarite se refuse k faire le mort. A peine mis 

 sur le dos apres un choc, il se retourne et fuit, comme s'il jugeait 

 desormais inutile un stratagfeme de si peu de succes." Holmes 

 (i2, p. 204) put ten Ranatras into successive death feints from 

 " 9 A. M. and continued without interruption until 5 p. m., when 

 the last specimen refused to feign longer." He found that the 

 duration of the death feint diminishes with successive trials. 

 We performed a somewhat similar experiment with ten Belos- 

 tomas. They were taken from water at 19° C, and laid upon 

 their backs while feigning death, at the temperature of the 

 atmosphere at 21 to 22° C. As soon as a specimen had righted 

 itself, it was immediately put back into the inert position again ; 

 the conditions were kept as nearly uniform as possible, no sun- 

 light being allowed to shine upon the insects. The following 

 table shows the time in minutes of each feint; ellipses indicate 

 that the bug assumed the usual death feigning posture but 

 when the insect was placed upon its back it immediately righted 

 itself : 



