126 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



ming-organ. Moreover, the oar-blade is curved in 

 such a way as to increase its efficiency. Other species 

 with the hind-legs similarly modified are found in 

 Borneo and Java. It is most interesting, though 

 perhaps not unexpected, to find in a group of Grass- 

 hoppers^ many members of which are fond of damp 

 situations by the margins of ponds and streams, and 

 many of which take to water when scared, that in 

 one genus the obvious advantages of increased swim- 

 ming powers has been secured by the simple modifica- 

 tion of pre-existing structures. 



[The author had added the following note on the 

 Paraguayan Grasshopper Ccelopterna acuminata, one of 

 the (Edopodincz. This insect "lives upon aquatic 

 plants and often must swim, hence the peculiar de- 

 velopment of hind tibiae and their spurs." z ] 



In Viti, one of the Fiji Islands, a Cricket, Hydro- 

 pedeticus vitiensis, has been found in great numbers 

 dancing about on the surface of a swift stream. It 

 has also been observed to jump from the water to a 

 height of 6 inches. In this insect also it is the hind- 

 legs which are specially adapted for the mode of life ; 

 they are very long, and from each side of the tibiae 

 at their ends project some slender spines fringed with 

 delicate hairs. This Cricket is very small, being only 

 ii millimeters in length, and is so light that when it 

 gives a vigorous push with its hind-legs the surface- 

 film of the water is not broken owing to the resistance 

 offered by the fringed spines of the legs, and con- 

 sequently the insect is enabled to leap forwards or 

 upwards from the surface of the stream ; it is, in fact, 



1 Lawrence Bruner, " List of Paraguayan Locusts," Proc. U.S. 

 National Mus., XXX. (1906), p. 637. 



