266 Mr. A. Murray on the Habits of the Prisopi. 



him in the mountains of Brazil ; and its habits were to spend 

 the whole of the day under water, in a stream or rivulet, fixed 

 firmly to a stone in the rapid part of the stream, but on the 

 approach of dusk to leave the water and to sally forth into the 

 night air on its own aff"airs, one of which undoubtedly would 

 be to search for its lady love, whom it is reasonable to suppose 

 we already know under some other form and described under 

 some other name — judging, at least, from other Phasraidse or 

 leaf-insects, the perfect male of which has usually ample wings, 

 while the female is not so well provided with organs for 

 flight. 



The creature is a large orthopterous insect, with wings of 

 unusual dimensions and, the under ones especially, of fine mem- 

 branous texture, apparently by no means well adapted for an 

 aquatic life. And yet we shall presently see theyare so arranged 

 that they can be folded up exactly like a well-cared-for umbrella, 

 placed under the protection of a waterproof cover. 



Before passing the structure of the little creature under re- 

 view and pointing out how thoroughly each part of it is fitted 

 to the unusual mode of life ascribed to it, we may first pave the 

 way by reminding the reader that this is not the only winged 

 insect which has been ascertained to pass a great part of its life 

 under water. Stoll figured a singular species, which Westwood* 

 thinks belongs to the family of grasshoppers (Gryllidse), under 

 the name of the " Grillon aquatique cornu " {Henicus Stollii of 

 G. R. Gray) ; but Westwood adds that " it is quite evident, from 

 the saltatorial structure of the legs and the impossibility of the 

 insect executing a leap under water (from the natural resistance 

 of the element), that there must be a mistake in the statement 

 that it is aquatic in its habits.'^ 



If I might hazard a conjecture on the subject, it would be 

 that Stoll, who also describes our Prisopus, had received a true 

 account of its habits, but had confounded it with the " aquatic 

 cricket,^^ and transferred the story from the one insect to the 

 other. This is the less unlikely since we know that he had both 

 in his cabinet. 



More recently Mr. Lubbock described to the Linnean Society 

 two aquatic Hymenoptera of small size, which he had observed 

 in a basin of pond-water. " Though most of the great orders," 

 says he, "are more or less richly represented (in water), no 

 aquatic species of Hymenoptera or Orthoptera had till now been 



discovered Great, therefore, was my astonishment, on the 



occasion to which I allude, when I saw in the water a small 

 Hymenopterous insect, evidently quite at its ease, and actually 



* J. O. Westwood, Modern Classification of Insects, i. p. 466. 



