85 



named is one of the locusts which have been observed in the act of 

 cultivating their musical talent by stridulating, not during flight, 

 but while at rest. 



The delicate little gauze-winged Oecanthus <iiiatlripiistnlatnx, Beut., 

 is a near relative of the Italian cricket, O. pellncens, Scop., whose 

 attractions and accomplishments have been immortalised in a par- 

 ticularly charming chapter in " The Life of the Grasshopper," 

 by Henri Fabre. He praises " the purity of the note with its soft 

 tremolo," and says, " I know no prettier or more limpid song." 



Some of the North American Hemiptera-Heteroptera are of com- 

 paratively enormous size. Amongst such is the Giant ^Yater Bug, 

 Benacus (iriseii^. In general appearance (except for its size) it 

 closely resembles our Water Scorpion, Xcpa cinerea, but the caudal 

 appendages that characterise the Xepidae, in this family (the Belos- 

 tomatidae), are retractile, and do not function as respiratory organs. 

 Americans call this insect the " Electric Light Bug," on account of 

 its propensity for making excursions away from its aquatic element 

 towards any bright light. With regard to their depredations 

 amongst the finny tribes, Howard observes : " The fish ponds in 

 Washington, since the advent of the electric light, have become so 

 greatly stocked with these bugs {Belostomatidae) that they are a 

 serious detriment to fish raising." At certain seasons, in the streets 

 of Winnipeg, scores of these creatures might be seen, after dusk, 

 lying stunned or mutilated at the bases of the electric-light 

 standards along the paved side walks — often half a dozen or more 

 beneath a single light. I once picked up, in a few minutes, as many 

 perfect specimens as I required, some of which are now before you. 

 In the one set with expanded wings the width from tip to tip 

 measures exactly ten centimetres. 



The four species of Diptera are of interest on account of their 

 relation with man. 



KcJiinoiinjia aUjem is a member of the large and important family 

 of the Tachinidae, which family Howard describes as " the most 

 beneficial group of Diptera, with the possible exception of the 

 Sijrphiis tiies." The larvae of this family are all parasitic upon 

 insects, chiefly caterpillars, of which they destroy enormous num- 

 bers, a fact only too well known to Lepidopterists, who occasionally, 

 though all unwittingly, take great pains in rearing these tiies. 



The six British species of this genus do not indue alieits, but in 

 Meade's List of British Tachinidae, E. gnma is described as "the 



