[CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES 1906 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, No XXXII.] 



ON THE 



MARINE HEMIPTERA (HALOBATES) 



COLLECTED BY 



PROFESSOR HERDMAN, AT CEYLON, IN 1902. 



BY 



GEO. H. CARPENTER, B.Sc, M.R.I.A., 



PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY IN THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, DUBLIN. 



[WITH ONE PLATE.] 



DURING his researches in the Gulf of Manaar, Professor HERDMAN collected many 

 specimens of Halobates, that interesting pelagic genus of bugs, familiar to all students 

 of insects since the publication of BUCHANAN WHITE'S classical memoir in the 

 ' Challenger Reports.'* 1 These insects are allied to our common " pond-skaters," and 

 skim over the surface of the ocean in warm latitudes, as those do over the water 

 of ponds and streams. WALKER, who has given much attention to the habits of 

 Halobates in recent voyages, statesf that they dive below whenever the surface 

 is ruffled by a breeze. 



All the specimens in the present collection are referable to a new species, and as the 

 material is abundant, the opportunity has been taken to investigate some details of 

 the external anatomy, and in particular the structure of the ovipositor. 



FAMILY: HYDROMETRID^E. 

 GENUS : Halobates, ESCHSCHOLTZ. 



Halobates herdmani, n. sp. Plate, figs. 1 to 19. 



Length of male 5 '2 millims., of female 57 millims. Feeler with 4th segment half 

 as long again as 3rd, slightly shorter than 2nd (figs. 3, 4). Fore foot with the two 

 tarsal segments sub-equal (figs. 5, 6, 9). Intermediate foot with the proximal tarsal 



* ' Challenger,' Zoology, vol. vii., 1883, part xix. 



t 'Ent, Monthly Mag.,' vol. xxix., 1893, pp. 227-232. 



