28 RHYNCOTA. 



not of the same consistency throughout ; from the base 

 to the middle or beyond, the wings are more or less of 

 a horny consistence, while the remaining portion of the 

 wing is thin and membranous, the line of demarcation 

 being distinct. In the Heteroptera the beak or rostrum 

 springs from the front of the head. This sub-order 

 contains two sections, the Hydrocorisa and the 

 AuROCORiSA ; the former, as the name implies, contains 

 the Water-bugs, and the latter the Land-bugs. In the 

 Hydrocorisa there are two families, the Notonectidca 

 and the Nepidce. As illustrations of these two families 

 figures will be seen in Plate I. Fig. 10 is the Water 

 Boatman {Nvtonecta glaiica), a common insect in pools 

 and canals. Its body is shaped like a boat, the keel 

 of which is the back on which it floats and rows itself 

 about by means of its long hind legs, which are deli- 

 cately fringed with hair, forming as it were the blade 

 of the oar. You may often see the boatman floating 

 with outstretched oars, back downwards, on the surface 

 of the water waiting for any little fly or gnat that may 

 approach too near, which he will be certain to seize with 

 his fore legs aud pierce with his rostrum ; for boatman 

 is eminently carnivorous in his diet, and possesses a 

 sharp-pointed beak with cutting lancets, with which he 

 will not hesitate to experimentalize on your finger if 

 you give him a chance. I have often kept specimens in 

 an aquarium, where they will become tame after a time, 

 and take bits of meat off the tip of a camel's-hair 

 pencil. But if you are rearing young fish of any sort 

 from the Qgg, you must beware of the boatman, for 

 though he is not black in colour he is in disposition, 

 and you may apply to him the words of Horace : — 

 " llic niuer est, himc tu Roniaiie caveto." 



