512 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vor.23r 
I gathered the leaf, with the bug still standing in this attitude 
over its prey, and watched it for some minutes. Occasionally the 
front legs were lowered for a moment to grasp the edges of the 
leaf, the posterior end of the insect being on these occasions even 
further elevated than before, but they were never allowed to 
remain down long. 
Finally I seized the bug by the thorax in order to transfer it 
toa killing bottle, when it at once set up a faint but distinct 
squeaking noise, something like that produced by longicorn beetles. 
The beats of this noise were found to correspond in time to the 
movements of the proboscis, whose tip was being rubbed vigorously 
up and down a well marked median longitudinal groove on the 
prosternum; and the noise was evidently produced by these 
movements. 
Mr. C. A. Paiva tells me that a specimen of Acanthaspis rama, 
which he once found in a fissure of a large tree at Katihar in the 
Purnea District of Bihar, struck a menacing attitude when he 
tried to catch it. This species also possesses a stridulating organ 
between its front legs, and so do many other Indian Reduviids. 
The habits of bugs belonging to the genus Eugubinus are very 
peculiar. The genotype (EZ. avaneus, Distant ') is said to have been 
‘“found living in the nest of a spider (Theridium sp.)’’ at Uran 
near Bombay (Distant, Fauna of British India, Rhynchota, II, 
p- 207). I have found specimens at Ernakulam in Cochin (EZ. 
intrudans, Distant!), and in the Salt Lakes area near Calcutta 
(E. reticolus, Distant!). In both cases they were found in webs of 
Cyrtophora ciccatrosa, an Argiopid spider which spins a dome- 
shaped web. ‘The web of this spider is really a horizontal orb- 
web pulled out of shape by a supporting framework of numerous 
irregular strands; it presents an appearance very unlike that of 
the orb-webs characteristic of other genera of Argiopidae, and 
superficially very like the irregular webs characteristic of the 
Theridiidae. Conspicuous web-spinning Theridiidae, though com- 
mon round about Kandy and in the Cochin Ghats, seem to 
be comparatively rare in most parts of India, where Cyrtophora 
ciccalrosa is usually abundant; and it may be doubted whether 
one of the solitary webs of the Theridiidae would supply the bug 
with sufficient nourishment for development. I am inclined to 
think therefore, that the web from which the genotype was taken 
must also have belonged to Cyrtophora ciccatrosa and not to a 
Theridiid. 
Eugubinus, like many other bugs of the sub-family Emesinae 
to which it belongs, is an excessively slender insect. It was origi- 
nally described as being apterous and having two-jointed tarsi; 
but these are larval characters. So far as my observations go the 
adult is always winged and has three-jointed tarsi. It flies well, 
but does not appear to take flight very readily. When it settles 
' Entomologist, Jan. 1915, pp. 8-9. 
