XII INSECTS OF THE SEA-SHORE 381 



batodes. Several species are known. They inhabit 

 all the great tropical and sub-tropical oceans, often 

 hundreds of miles from land, appearing on the surface 

 in calms, or when there is a swell without wind-waves. 

 They appear of a brilliant white, either wholly or as to 

 their legs, but this is due entirely to a bubble of air 

 which overspreads the close-set hairs of the integu- 

 ment. When removed from the water or examined 

 closely, they are seen to be dark-coloured. They run 

 rapidly on the sea, and are said to dive occasionally. 

 What becomes of them in stormy weather, and where 

 the eggs are laid and hatched, has not been found out. 

 They feed upon the floating bodies of dead marine 

 animals, and may be seen to run out from such 

 objects when alarmed by the approach of a boat. 

 These Insects belong to the Rhynchota (Hemiptera), 

 and in some respects come pretty near to such forms 

 as Hydrometra or Velia. They are peculiar in never 

 exhibiting a trace of either pair of wings. The fore 

 legs are of moderate size, the middle legs of enormous 

 length, and in Halobates fringed with hairs. The 

 hind legs are not so long as the middle legs. The 

 whole animal has a superficial resemblance to a long- 

 legged spider. The mesothorax, on which the middle 

 legs are carried, is extremely large, and the abdomen 

 of insignificant size. 



