HUNGERFORD: AQUATIC HEMIPTERA. 79 
Saldoida cornuta Osborn 1901. 
Osborn, Can. Ent., XXXIII, p. 181, 1901. 
“Hind angles of pronotum produced into conspicuous horns. Black, 
marked with brown. Female, length 2.5 mm.; width at humeri, 0.75 mm. 
“Vertex and front minutely gibbous, sparsely set with short appressed 
hairs; ocelli minute, approximate; antennz with joints one, two and four 
nearly equal in length, joint three about one-half longer, and much 
swollen, fourth less swollen; rostrum about reaching hind coxe. Conical 
tubercles of the pronotum very slightly divergent, otherwise almost pre- 
cisely like those of slossoni in shape; the posterior lobe of pronotum very 
short, posterior angles produced into prominent upturned horns, with a 
blunt polished tip. Scutellum minutely roughened, becoming smooth at 
apex, not inflated. Elytra subhyaline on costa, the membrane rather 
coriaceous, with veins obsolete, apparently with three cells and rather 
narrow margin. Wings aborted, unless accidentally broken off in this 
specimen. 
“Colour: Vertex, front, third joint of antenne, prothorax except pos- 
terior horns, scutellum, claval sutures and apex of corium, pectus and 
base of last ventral segment, black; clypeus, rostrum, joints one, two 
and four of antennz, posterior horns of pronotum, cox and apices of 
femora, reddish brown; a brown patch on disc of clavus and base of 
corium, a whitish oblique spot on corium merging into the hyaline costa. 
Membrane deeply infuscated; the first and fourth joints of antennz are 
widely whitish, as also the hind coxe, base of femora and the apical two- 
thirds of last ventral segment, the central part of which is transparent, 
showing ovipositor clearly. b 
“Nescribed from one specimen (female) collected by Mrs. Slosson in 
Florida.” 
B. BIOLOGY OF THE SALDIDA. 
General Habits of the Family. These agile bugs for the most part in- 
habit damp soils about pools, along the margins of ponds and upon the 
shores of fresh and salt waters. Kirkaldy says that one species is found 
“far away from moisture on sandy commons or moors, under heather or 
in sand pits.” They are very lively creatures and difficult to capture. 
When disturbed they leap from the ground, arise a few feet into the air 
by the aid of their wings, and alight a short distance away. Uhler has 
made a special study of these insects and tells us that when they alight 
“they take care to slip quickly into the shade of some projecting tuft of 
grass or clod where the soil agrees with the color of their bodies.” Some 
species dig holes for themselves, and live for a part of the time beneath 
the ground, according to Uhler. This writer also compares the quick 
short flights of the Saldids with those of the tiger beetles and notes that 
Salda signoretii (now Pentacora signoretii) may be observed running 
swiftly about over the damp surface of the sandy beaches of Maryland 
in company with Cicindela dorsalis, searching for food and thrusting its 
rostrum into drowned flies and other insects. Latreille, 1803, stated that 
they probably fed upon aquatic insects, especially Diptera. 
Direct observations upon their feeding habits in nature are scant. 
The writer has kept them in the laboratory upon a diet of dead flies, etc. 
From their behavior, however, he believes they capture living insects 
upon occasion. 
Their resemblance to their surroundings and their rapid, erratic move- 
ments have enabled them to get on well in the world. As evidence of 
