REPORT ON THE PELAGIC HEMIPTERA. 73 



HABITS. 

 HALOBATES. 



Except for the sake of calling attention to the necessity of ol)servations, it is almost 

 unnecessary to devote any space to this part of the subject, so little is known aliout it. 

 The little that has been recorded about individual species has been noticed under each. 



Mr. Murray writes to me as follows : — 



" I have looked through my Challenger journals carefully for notes about Halohates, 

 and find that I have noted its occurrence in the Atlantic 21 times between the latitudes 

 35° N. and 20° S., and 38 times in the Pacific between lats. 37° N. and 23° S. It would 

 thus seem that these insects are confined to the warmer waters of the ocean, as we have 

 no note of their occun-ence north or south of these latitudes during our cruise. 



" AVhile the Challenger was engaged in dredging in the open ocean, a boat was 

 lowered for the use of the naturalists whenever the weather permitted, and when away 

 on such occasions Halohates was frequently observed. When the boat during calm 

 weather was rowed near a dead Porpita, Physalia, Salpa, or fragment of some other 

 creature floating on the surface, three or four Halohates would occasionally be 

 observed to start out from it, and skim away over the surface in different directions. 

 At first I thought that the insects were merely resting on the floating objects, but 

 latterly I came to believe that they were feeding on them. 



" The majority of the specimens taken by the tow-net were dead when brought on 

 board, but we frequently took them alive, and observed them skimming over the surface 

 of the water in our globes. 



" We captured them both during the day and during the night ; but most frequently 

 when the ship was steaming during a calm, and the tow-net was kept dipping at the 

 surface of the water. When the net was dragged beneath the surface, we did not, of 

 course, expect to capture creatures scudding about on the surface ; and nine-tenths of our 

 tow-net observations were made by sinking the net beneath the surfiice. Hence on these 

 occasions no specimens of Halohates were captured. 



" On one occasion only have I observed Halohates dive. This was on 31st March 

 1875, on the passage from New Guinea to Japan, when a specimen having been captured 

 alive, was seen to dive in the globe. Our assistant, Mr. Pearcey, says he remembers the 

 circumstance distinctly." 



As a corroboration of this observation of the diving powers of Halohates, the follo■n^ng 

 note^ by Mr. J. J. Walker, of H.M.S. " Kingfisher," may be quoted : — " I saw a good many 

 specimens of the oceanic bug, Halohates, sp. ? on November 26, about 400 miles from the 

 nearest land (on the voyage between San Francisco and Callao), and caught a few for 

 Dr. Buchanan White. They are curious little ivory-legged fellows, resembling our 



' Entoinologist's Monthly Magazine, vol. xix. p. 278, May 1883. 



(ZOOL. CHALL. E.KP. — FART XIX. — 1883.) T 10 



