November, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



245 



few cuts were made with the bonowed razor and then 

 the horn was put on again and the blood drawn out. by 

 the vacuum. By repeating this process seven times oil 



Fig. 



-Ti.. 



each side of the neck the doctor drew some 5 ozs. of 

 blood from Mahomet. The moderate fee of one piastre 

 (2Ad.) was charged, but we were told with some pride 

 that the proper doctor would have chaiged two piastres. 

 We had always considered JNIahomet wanting in blood, 

 but on the morning after the operation he said that he 

 was now perfectly well and wo cheerfully believed in 

 the efficacy of the leech. 



"We rather thought that so primitive a doctor should 

 have a primitive fee, such as an old bottle or tin. or 

 even a bit of clotli, for his own was of the scantiest. 

 But the natives as far as wo travelled would take 

 nothing but money. We had provided ourselves with 

 knives, razors and the like for barter, but these would 

 never be accepted as payment although they were de- 

 manded, but not given, as baksheesh. Hassan's ex- 

 planation of the use to which the money was put, ran 

 as follows: — " Dey do put it in hole in ground and 

 ebeiy six months or year dee fabcr ob dem do go to 

 next big billage and buy iu bazaar all tings for ladies 

 and him and — ebervting. " 



THE INSECTS OF THE SEA.-VI. 



By Geo. H. Caepentee, b.sc.(lond.). Assistant in the 

 ilusKum of Science and Art, Dublin. 



FOUR-WINGED FLIES. 



The various orders of insects that may be roughly 

 designated '" four-winged flies " have very few marine 



representatives. Every student of " pond-life " knows 

 tho hairy-winged Caddis-flies (Trichoptcra) whose grubs 

 — tlio Caddis-worms — live in fresh-water and build up 

 for themselves little " houses " of stones, sticks, leaves, 

 and even snail-shells. Several caddis-worms inhabit 

 biackish-waler, and at least one, belonging to the New 

 Xealand species, P/n/ntiisiis p/tliilns; Walker, dwells in 

 llie sea between tide-marks. It was found by Capt. 

 Ilutton in Lyttlclon Jlarliour in a straight tubular case 

 uiade of fragniculs of coralline seaweeds, and tiny stones.* 

 The great order of the moths and butterllics (Lepi- 

 doplcra) is represented at sea only by stray specimens 

 Hitting along the shore or by migrating swarms of 

 strong-nying species crossing channels or o'ceans. But 

 the llymenoptera (comprising the saw-flics, gall-flies, 

 ants, wasps and bees) seem to have so;ne truly marine 

 members. Prof. Moiiicz discovcredf near Aigucs-Mortes 

 on the French JMedilerranean coast, crowds of minute 

 l)la(k para.sitic flics^fbelonging to the family Proctotru- 

 jiida'), sheltering under stones between tide-marks. 

 These had well-developed wing.s, which they may 

 ))erliaps use as propellers when swimming througli the 

 water. 



BUGS. 

 Our survey of the Insects of the Sea must conclude with 

 the bugs — the order liemiplcra (or Rhynchota) of 

 zoologists. These arc far from being the most highly 

 organised of insects, and their marine representatives 

 arc comparatively few. Yet among them are found 

 not only haunters of the tidal margin and the rock- 

 pools, but also daring adventurers trusting themselves 

 boldly to the waters of the ocean, over whose surface 

 they walk, often hundreds of miles from land. This 

 order of insects shows, therefore, I lie most perfect 

 adaptation to marine life. 



The characteristic structural feature of Bugs is to be 

 found in their jaws, which are formed for piercing and 

 sucking. The mandibles and first pair of maxillcC are 

 transformed into piercing stylets, which work to and 

 fro in a grooved beak made up by the fusion of the 

 maxillse of the second pair. This beak usually rests 

 beneatlr the insect's breast with the point directed back- 

 wards. Unlike the higher insects — such as Beetles, 

 Moths, Flies and Bees — the Bugs undergo no marked 

 transformations. The young, except for the absence of 

 wings, are hatched in a form much like that of their 

 ])arcnts, and attain the adult condition by slow degrees, 

 the wing-rudiments — visible out,side the body — gradually 

 increasing in size after each moult. In the nialine Bugs, 

 however, wings aie never developed at all. 



Like other orders of insects, tho Bugs show a gradual 

 transition in some groups from a terrestrial to a marine 

 habit of life. The dull, oval, convex insects forming tho 

 genus Salda. for example, have some species frequenting 

 dry heaths, others haunting the edges of ponds and 

 streams, and yet others dwelling close to tidal waters or 

 on salt-marshes; these latter are well able to endure 

 submersion, and at high tide they sometimes crawl 

 slowly about under water. 



But most of the truly marine Bugs belong to markedly 

 distinct and isolated genera. The only example of the 

 Order found on tho sea-coasts of our islands, thougli 

 related to the Saldidae, is now placed in a family all by 

 itself — a family comprising but a single species. 



* R. Mc-Lachlan, "On a Marine Caddis-fly from New Zealand," 

 Joiii-n. Linn. Hoc. (Zool.), Yol. XVI., 1883, pp. 417-422. 



+ R. Mouiez. " Sill- uii IJj'int>aopti:re llalophile." Rer. Biol. 

 y. France, Vol. VI., 1S94, pji, 439-ttl. 



