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The next of most interest is Eeduvius Personaius, the large 

 insect in the fourth row with spread wings. These insects have 

 a habit of flying towards the light. The only two I have ever 

 taken came in at my window at night. It has received the name 

 of Personatus (disguised), on account of a habit it has while in its 

 larval state, of covering itself with a thick coating of dust. It is 

 said to be a great enemy to the Bed-Bug, and the Rev. J. G. 

 Wood says he knew of a case in which the larva of Reduvius 

 kept in captivity used to eat three or four bugs daily. 



They are not very common. Dale in his " History of Glanville's 

 Wooton," omits them altogether from his list of local insects, but 

 as he states, that only in one instance, namely on the 1st 

 September, 1874, was leciularia captured in his parish, though 

 his father before him was an assiduous insect collector since the 

 beginning of the present century, it could hardly have been 

 expected to remain where its favourite food was so scarce. 



Of the Hydrometridse, Eydrometera Stagnorum is the only 

 British species. I have not included it in my local list, as I have 

 not yet taken it in this neighbourhood, though no doubt common 

 enough. The one in the box came from Bournemouth. 



Velia Currens is the little black velvety thing you must have 

 often seen running over the surface of the water. My specimens 

 were not taken here. They are in the fifth row beneath 

 Hydrometra. 



Gerris Gibbifera (the last but one in the fifth row). In this 

 species, which darts about on the surface of the water like ?elia 

 Currens, the female is nearly tAvice the size of the male. In 

 these insects the wings though sometimes developed are in general 

 rudimentary. 



We now come to the true water bugs, one of which Notonecia 

 glauca, the last in the fourth row, is tolerably common in stagnant 

 water, but is rather difficult to capture. The popular name is 

 water boatman, and was given on account of the appearance they 

 present when resting on the surface of the water ; their long hind 



