■± THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Omitting the parasitic group and, perhaps, the remarkable 

 Coccidse (scale insects), the Ehynchota comprehend two well- 

 marked suborders — viz. : the Hetekopteea and the Homoptera. 

 The former, containing the aquatic forms, are distinguished by 

 the fact that the genes (cheeks) are not contiguous with the 

 anterior coxae, as they are in the Homoptera ; in the former, 

 moreover, the elytra (upper pair of flight-organs) are usually 

 coriaceous, except a small apical membranous portion, the 

 "membrane," while they are more or less uniform in texture 

 in the Homoptera.* 



The study of the Heteroptera, or "Bugs" par excellence, has, 

 in comparison with that of certain other insect groups, been 

 unjustly neglected ; owing doubtless to the disagreeable asso- 

 ciations connected with the popular name, and apparently also 

 to an unformulated impression, current even amongst many 

 entomologists, that they are, in their structure and habits, 

 somewhat uninteresting. How absolutely alien to the truth is 

 this supposition would be apparent to anyone who spent an 

 hour in a preliminary study of some of their characteristics. It 

 is obvious that the harmoniously-arranged tints of certain Lepi- 

 doptera or the gaudy patterns of others are not possessed by, and 

 would indeed be deleterious to, the aquatic forms we are now 

 considering, but in extraordinary structures specially adapted 

 to their environment, such as the method of respiration in Nepa 

 and Notonecta, and the remarkable modifications of the 8th 

 pleura, in the former, into a long respiratory tube ; the structure 

 of the antennas in the Cryptocerata ; stridulation in Corixa and 

 Micronecta ; to mention but a few of the most salient — the 

 Ehynchota certainly far surpass their more admired rivals. 



The peculiar odour, which in some terrestrial species is of an 

 agreeable nature, in others so disgusting, is by no means highly 

 developed in the aquatic forms. So far as I am aware, no 

 external opening of the glandular apparatus has yet been 

 discovered in any of them, although the existence of repug- 

 natorial glands has been proved in some at least. Notonecta 

 possesses perhaps the most distinctive odour, which has been 

 compared by Dufour, somewhat exaggeratedly, to that of the 

 plant Chenopodiumvulvarium (olidum), or "stinking Goose-foot," 

 out its tenacity is no way to be compared with that of the 

 effluvium emitted, for example, by the Coleopteron Gyrinus. 



Presuming that my readers wish to study the Aquatic 

 Ehynchota of these islands, and that their whole aim is not 

 merely to be able to identify their captures — after a fashion, I 

 propose first of all to offer a few remarks upon three specially 

 interesting portions of the external structure — viz.: the rostrum, 

 the antennae, and the legs. 



* £Tepo? (ketcros), other; o/^o? [h6mos) } similar. 



