236 THE UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
which lives in the rivers of Canara and which he says eats fish 
eggs, from which fact Westwood derived its name. The ob- 
servation follows: 
“T observed it myself in a still hollow in a rock, where the water was 
quite clear and only two or three inches deep. The insects kept tossing 
the ova up from the bottom and following. them closely up to the surface 
whence they gradually subsided to the bottom of their own weight, the 
insects apparently adhering to eggs all the time, but the moment they 
were at the bottom they vigorously were tossed up again. I daresay it 
attacks other spawn also, but the ova I saw it engaged with were those 
of the Masheer barbas mosal, commonly called ‘Masheer,’ the most valu- 
able fish in the Indian rivers.” 
Mr. Thomas sent an extract from the report of Pisciculture 
in S. Canara “detailing experiments made by an intelligent ob- 
server to test the destructive habits of this insect. In one 
instance a hollow was watched in which were many freshly 
deposited ova but no Corixze. The next morning the latter 
were there in large numbers, and nothing left but the empty 
egg shells. In another experiment the ova were placed in a 
finely woven basket and the Corixe immediately came in 
quantities and endeavored to penetrate from the outside.” 
White, 1873, made careful studies of the behavior of Cor- 
ixids, and described their feeding movements but stated, 
“T have not been able to make out satisfactorily of what the food of 
these insects consists. (Westwood has recently described an Indian 
species which is said to feed on eggs of fish.) Evidently White doubts 
the occurrence of the observation. They often rest on a stone and seem 
to scrape its surface with the pale which they bring rapidly and alter- 
nately to the mouth. In the same manner they scrape a root of Lemnze 
passing it rapidly between the pale. On examining a stone from which 
a Corixa had apparently been obtaining food, a small alga and a few 
Rotifera and other animalcules were seen.” 
Kirkaldy, 1905, came, through his observations of their be- 
havior, to state, “Dufour says they are carnasial. I think that 
small worms, Rotifera, etc., form a large part of their food. 
Kulgatz, 1911, in “Die aqatilen Rhynchoten Westpreussens” 
describes the front legs of Corixa as ‘‘Organe zum Packen und 
Frestholten der auszusaugenden Beute’”’ and Brocher, 1913, 
says fore legs are for prehension “Si un petit animal, larve ou 
elles l’attrapent et le maintiennent applique contre leur 
bouche ¢ 
The writer has given at some length the observations of 
others. He has observed Corixids catch prey, but finds that 
