STUDY ON THE DEATH-FEIGNING OF BELOSTOMA 29 



36° C. Although these bugs became very active, only one suc- 

 ceeded in righting itself and this individual assumed the normal 

 position repeatedly when placed on its back. In another set 

 of experiments, the head of six specimens was severed from the 

 body and the bod}' was then exposed to the hot sunshine at a 

 temperature of 41° C. ; in this case only two of the hemiptera 

 succeeded in turning over into the walking position. 



When placed right side up in their normal walking position 

 shortly after the operation, some of the headless bugs would 

 attempt to walk backward with the abdomen dragging along 

 the substratum and with the anterior portion of the body held 

 high up in the air. The posterior two pairs of legs would draw 

 the body back a short distance and then the decapitated insect 

 would topple forward, sometimes to one side and then again 

 to the other. The front legs would play no part in this sort of 

 locomotion. Occasionally the front legs, which were covered with 

 blood that had oozed from the wound , would be rubbed together ; 

 sometimes these legs would attempt to rub the former head region, 

 as if an irritation had been set up by the removal of the head. 



Thirty Nepas were decapitated while they were feigning death, 

 and about half remained in the same inert position, while the 

 other half came out of the feint immediately. Those specimens, 

 that did not apparently come out of the death feint immediately, 

 lost the rigidity of the muscles the instant the cut was made. 

 While some of the decapitated individuals would try to right 

 themselves, others would lie quietly upon their backs, only now 

 and then moving one or more legs. Frequently the legs would 

 quiver violently, however. Of those^ headless insects that tried 

 to right themselves, there were some that succeeded in a perfectly 

 normal manner, some that did so only after many trials, while 

 other failed entirely and then lay motionless. Oftentimes the 

 latter could be induced to right themselves by stimulating them 

 with a camel's hair brush. Most of the decapitated bugs that 

 did right themselves, walked about in an apparently normal 

 manner, although there were others that stood upon their 

 posterior pairs of legs with the front pair stretched upward as 

 far as possible. This peculiar attitude was undoubtedly due to 

 the shock effect of the operation. 



21. Reflex acts: When the end of the abdomen of the more 

 active, decapitated Belostomas was pinched gently .between a 



