34 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [February, 



On the second of July, while at anchor near the Sand Key 

 Light, a few were seen near the vessel between three and four 

 o'clock in the afternoon. By getting into a boat which was lying 

 alongside, no difficulty was experienced in capturing two or three 

 that came within reach of the net. The next day, while the ves- 

 sel was under way with quite a pleasant breeze, they were seen 

 again, before seven o'clock in the morning, skimming about the 

 bows. Two or three were again taken by sitting in the chains 

 under the bow-sprit and "jabbing" at them with a crab-net lined 

 with bolting cloth, as often as one crossed our course. By eight 

 o'clock they were less numerous. With the aid of the Report, 

 previously mentioned, they were determined as Halobates wuller- 

 storffi. Frauenf , a name afterwards verified by Mr. O. Heidemann, 

 of Washington. 



The following day more of them were seen in Lat. 24° 24' N. , 

 Long. 79° 49' W. Immediately after dinner, when the water 

 was still, except for a smooth swell, a specimen was caught in a 

 crab-net and turned loose, without being touched by the fingers, 

 into a tub of salt water on the deck. The insect at once com- 

 menced to scud around on the surface with movements so rapid 

 that the eye could not follow them, and any observations on the 

 mode of locomotion were out of the question. In a few minutes 

 partial exhaustion succeeded these violent exertions, and it was 

 then seen that the long middle pair of feet did nearly all the work 

 of progression, the anterior pair being carried folded tip (nearly) 

 and projecting forwards, a little to each side of the head. The 

 antennae point forwards and outwards, forming a V. When the 

 bug tires, the muscles at the insertion of the legs appear to weaken 

 first, and the body is let down on to the water. It there rests in 

 very much the position shown in Mr. Walker's figure in the 

 " Entom. Monthly Magazine" for October, 1893, though my 

 sketches, made on the spot, show sharper angles at all the knee 

 joints. The same position is not always maintained, however, 

 by different specimens. 



The movements of a tired specimen were as follows: in making 

 a stroke the middle legs were brought forward until the tips were 

 about on a line with the head. They were then rapidly brought 

 back so as to nearly touch the tips of the hind pair, which were 

 moved comparatively but little. The posterior feet seem to be 

 u^:ed to steer with rather than as an aid in progression. The four 



