246 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[November, 1001. 



Aepoplii/iix Bannaireil, as this insect was called some 

 twenty years ago by its describer, M. Signoret, is a 

 flattened, elongate oval bug about ^ inch long, with the 

 hind-wings apparently absent and the fore-wings reduced 

 to vei-y small vestiges (Fig. 1). The name Aepophilus 

 was bestowed upon the insect because of its discovery 

 in company with beetles of the genus Aepus, described 

 in a previous article of this series. It has never been 

 found except between tide-marks, and almost alwavs 

 seems to shelter under stones, though it has been noticed 

 also beneath a stranded star-fish. On the coast of Sark. 

 M. Koehler found specimens beneath large stones in a 

 rave into which the tide only permits entrance four 

 times a year. Mr. Keys, who has observed the insects 

 on the south-west coast of England, found them to occur 

 in greatest numbers beneath large boulders in a channel 

 far out beyond a reef of rocks — a situation covered by 

 the sea for twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Here 

 " in a space that could have been covei'ed by a crown 

 piece, there was a group of the undeveloped forms with 

 a single mature specimen in their midst, just, as one 

 often finds a family of earwigs, or sees a hen surrounded 

 by her chickens." The life of these strange insects be- 

 neath great boulders at the sea-bottom is full of 

 mystery. Appai-ently they can neither sui-vive immersion 

 in sea^water, nor walk on the surface ; " they hide in 

 companies in little holes in the stone, packed' together 

 as closely as possible, or rest on the algaic growth 

 thereon," Probably these humble seaweeds furnish them 

 with food, though it has been suggested that they eat 

 decaying animal matter. Aepophilus is a very scarce 

 insect, and seems confined to the western European 

 and Britannic coasts. It has been observed in Spain ; 

 on the He de Re, off the west coast of France; Jersey 

 and Sark in the Channel Islands : Dorset, Devon and 

 Cornwall in south-western England ; and Waterford in 

 southern Ireland. Such a distribution, together with 



Fio. ]. Ku;. 2. 



Fig. 1.— Aepophilus JBonnairei (male), witli brak exteurted, 

 Jersey. Maguilicd 9 tiiiifs 



Fig. 2.- Ilermatohates Baddo7iii {um\e). Torres Straits. Magnified 

 R times. 



its isolated systematic position and retiring habits. 

 shows that it must be an ancient type of bug, driven 

 to extremities in order to maintain any standing at all 

 in the teeming insect-world of to-day. 



X V. Signoret " Le Genre Aepophilus." TijcUchr. Enf Vol. 

 X.\1II., 18S0, pp. 1-3, pi. 1.— R. Koehler. " La Faune littorale des 

 lies Anglo-Normandes." Ann. Sci. Nat. (Zool.), Vol. XX, 1885, 

 pp. 27-9.— J. H. Keys. " Aepophilus Bonnairei." Ent. Mo. Mag ' 

 Vol. XXIV.. 1888 p. 174; 12), Vol. T , 1890, p. 247; (2) Vol. VI., 

 1S95. pp. l3o.7.— E. Borgroth '"Notes on the.genusAepo))luliis." Enf. 

 Mo Mug. (2) Vol .\., 18I1!I, pp. 28J-H. 



Far away on tropical coral-reefs lives another peculiar 

 genus of marine bug. Hennatobates, as this insect is 

 called, is as small as Aepophilus, and far more remark- 

 able in structure. The three segments of the thorax 

 are fused together, wings are entirely wanting, and the 

 abdomen has undergone such extreme reduction that 

 the slender middle and hmd legs look to be inserted 

 at the far tail-end of the body. The fore-legs are very 

 broad, strong and spiny, evidently adapted for clineing, 

 and perhaps for seizing prey (Fig. 2). Of the life of 

 these curious insects hai-dly anything is known. The 

 typical species, discovered on a reef off the island of 

 Mabuiag in Torres Sti'aits by Prof. Haddon in 1889, and 

 named after him by the present writer, § was subse- 

 quently met with on Guichen Reef, near Troughtou 

 Island in the Arafura Sea by Mr. J. J. Walker. " They 

 occurred," he writes, " under large dead bivalve shells 

 (Tridacna), and with them I found a good-sized spider 

 which must have been submerged on this completely 

 isolated reef twice every day to a depth of ten or more 

 feet." It is curious that Prof. Haddon's specimen also 

 occurred iu company with a spider — Z'f.s/s Martenui by 

 name — well-known from various maritime stations in 

 the eastern tropics. It is likely that further research 

 will show some beneficial association between this large 

 spider — who retires at high water into holes in the coral- 

 rock protected by a sheet of web — and her tiny 

 companion. 



Only during the present year has a second species 

 of Hermatobates been discovered, MM. H. Coutiere 

 and J. Maa-tin having described one from the coast of 

 Somaliland, in East Africa. These little bugs have 

 evidently therefore a wide distribution in the tropics. 

 The same naturalists also record the occurrence on 

 Honda Bay in the Philippines of an allied insect, which 

 they refer to a distinct genus Hermatobatodes. Only 

 females of the latter have been found, while of Herma- 

 tobates only males are yet known. These, like many 

 other Bugs of the " sterner sex," seem able to produce 

 musical sounds to charm their mates, for a comb-like row 

 of spines on the face of the flattened fore-shin can hardly 

 be regarded otherwise than as a stridulating organ. 



The East African species, H. djihinitcnih, was not 

 found crawling on the coral rock, but skimming over 

 the surface of a pool, and the Philippine insect occurred 

 on the waters of the bay. These marine Bugs, there- 

 fore, sometimes at least, adopt the habit of the well- 

 known pond-skaters, Gerridfe, in which family they 

 must probably be included, though they certainly form 

 a very aberrant sub-family thereof. Among the Gerridfe 

 adaptation for walking on the surface-film of water 

 reaches its highest point. 



One of the best known European fresh-water members 

 of this family is the dark brown Velia currens, which 

 may often bo seen darting about over the surface of 

 running streams. In most tropical countries species of 

 the allied Rhagovelia are to be found. These insects 

 have a wonderful and beautifid organ for assisting their 

 walk over the siu-face-film, in a S3'stem of branching 

 ciliated hairs set in the deep cleft of the terminal 

 segment of the feet of the middle pair- of legs (Figs. 4, 5). 

 This set of hairs can be retracted and hidden within 

 the cleft of the foot, or spread out like the spokes of 

 a wheel so as to form a disc-like area of sujiport. Two 



§ G. H. Carpenter. " Rhynehota from Murray Island and 

 Mabuiag." Sci. Proc R. Duhlin Soc. Vol. VII., 1892, pp. I:i7.14fi, 

 pis. .\II., .\II1. — 11. I'outiere 1 nd J. Martin. "Sur une nouvelle 

 .^ous f;Lmille d'Heniijitores marins, les Ileimatobatinje," Compfen 

 Kendiis Ar.nl. Sri.. Vol. C.\X-\1I., 1901. )i)i. UIHIi-,s. 



