I. RHYNCHOTA FROM BARKUDA ISLAND, 



By C. A. Paiva, Assistant, Zoological Survey of India, 



Introductory Note. 



I have already described Barkuda I. in these " Records. "^ Here 

 it will be sufficient to repeat that it is a rocky or rather stony island 



abnnt o np. n^ j lp. long hv thrpp-miflrfpra of o ^^^^1^ !-« ^ ----"• 



ERRATUM. 



In the sixth line of the second paragraph on page 23 for 

 "new genua of the family as recoriied," 



READ 

 "no genus of the family is recorded." 



maeed, all tnose species of either Homoptera or Heteroptera that live 

 by sucking leaves or stems of plants are very scarce, the few that occur 

 beiny found mainly on introduced Leguminosae. The phytophagous 

 species of the island live in most instances by sucking seeds or berries, 

 but the most conspicuous form {E^npysurus johni) sucks the fruit and 

 young leaves of a fig, and the most abundant (Petalocnemis ohscura) the 

 stems of the Poison Apple Datura stramonium, Linn., — both plants that 

 are not as a rule attractive to insects. Other groups of insects, with the 

 exception of certain families of beetles, notably the Tenebrionidae and 

 Cicindelidae, are just as poorly represented on the island as the Rhyn- 

 chota. A factor that may have been of importance in the scarcity of 

 species is the strong breeze that blows across the island almost daily. 

 Insectivorous birds and lizards are, however, few. 



There is a small pond in the middle of the island. It is dug in laterite 

 rock and the water has a depth of about five or six feet in the middle, 

 but naturally varies with the rainfall. The pool is roughly circular 

 and about 12 yards in diameter. The bottom is covered with black 

 mud. There are no true water-plants, but a fairly dense growth of sedges 

 springs up round the margin in wet weather. The water is very slightly 

 brackish, opaque and muddy. In this pond certain aquatic Rhynchota 

 abound. The commonest are Anisops sardea and Plea palescens ; other 

 species are much less so. The Hydrometridae are as a rule scarce, 

 but Gerris tristan, though not always present, sometimes appears in 

 considerable numbers. Apart from Rhynchota and water-beetles, of 

 which a certain number of species are abundant, the fauna of 

 the pond is by no means rich. The only vertebrate is the frog Rana 



iRec. Ind. Mus. XIII, p. 171 (1917). 



