INSECT VARIETY, 111 



During captivity these would perform somewhat reluctantly 

 on seizure ; the notes of the first had the musical timbre of the 

 minute longicorn beetles {Leptura, Fabr.) ; those of the latter had 

 a more rustling sound^ which caused me repeatedly to think they 

 arose from my having inadvertently crumpled the elytra. A 

 third stridulator, the perfect winged form of the former bug, 

 I captured on the Ibth July behind a window-shutter; it 

 jierformed readily, and its notes were sharp and distinct. This 

 species has been said to emit a disagreeable mouse-like odour. 

 A fourth example, Harpactor IraciDulus, Scop., taken on the 

 banks of the Po at 6 a.m. one June morning, when engaged in 

 sucking the juices of an earwig, was a more sturdy performer, 

 with a sharp, creaking stridulation. And, although if retained 

 for more than a second in the hand its music would often 

 subside to a tone scarcely perceptible by the human ear, yet, if 

 the insect was then allowed to slip just a little through the 

 fingers, this action a2:)parently conferring some sensation akin 

 to pleasure at release, the rostrum was seen at once to elongate 

 its strokes in the channel, and the notes came out again loud 

 and clear. When suddenly seized it had also the power of 

 emitting a strong vinegary scent. The power of stridulation 

 does not, however, appear to exist in the larval state. All species 

 of this family of which I am cognizant employ their rostrums 

 to prick their cajjtors sharply. Those Palaarctic kinds here 

 observed to stridulate will amount to six; and various of the 

 larger exotics have no less an appearance of being very decidedly 

 musical and vindicative. Travellers might experiment on their 

 capabilities. 



The sounds emitted by the Water Bugs seem low when 

 compared with those that can be reproduced in many 

 Longicorn Beetles. I am not aware that any of the species 

 stridulate when seized ; and although many emit clicking 

 sounds when confined in a glass vessel, I never could detect 

 an instance in which their production was not accompanied 

 by the head striking on the bottom or sides of the receptacle. 

 It may be also remarked the bugs have hitherto evinced only 

 one incentive to stridulate, namely, fear on seizure, although one 

 species, like Cri/ptorhijnchus lapathi, among the rhychophorus 

 beetles, was most disposed to do so when the paroxysm was 



