Insects. 7021 



one of these " plant bugs " emits a scent that is peculiar rather than 

 agreeable ; but the " water walkers," or Hydrometrina, have no such 

 scent, — at least I have never discovered that they offend the olfactory 

 organs. 



The " short horns " offtT an equally intelligible division into water 

 and land insects ; the water insects live actually in the water, and not 

 on it, diving, swimming, walking and really living under water ; they 

 feed on insects, and some of them seize on a drowning fly with such 

 intense eagerness that they will allow themselves to be dragged out 

 of water rather than forego their meal. They are called " water boat- 

 men " or Notonectina, which swim, and " water scorpions " or Nepina, 

 which crawl. The land Hemiptera with short horns are called " frog- 

 hoppers " or Cicadina, and, like the land " long horns," they feed on 

 the sap of plants. 



In collecting Hemiptera we must associate them differently, calling 

 them '* plant bugs " and water bugs ; " the first and fourth divisions 

 now come together, and the second and third divisions come together. 

 There is no way of getting the " plant bugs " so readily as with a 

 walking slick and umbrella ; they are almost invariably found on plants, 

 and the best plants to search are junipers, yews, larch firs, oaks and 

 birch : spread the umbrella, turn it upside down, hold it under the 

 boughs, and beat or shake until the insects fall in. 



Now there is no racing or flying, the "long-horned plant bugs" crawl 

 slowly and sedately up the silk or gingham, and make no attempt to 

 escape the fingers of the entomologist as he picks them off one at a 

 time and transfers them to his bottle of bruised laurel leaves, an indis- 

 pensable implement of the bug hunter. The "short horns " require 

 diflerent tactics ; they possess a leaping apparatus in the hind legs, 

 which renders it very difficult to secure them ; the better way, when 

 you have one of them in your umbrella, is to close it partially, and the 

 " frog-hopper " will, by a series of angry but ineffectual leaps, soon 

 get to the bottom, where he will be secured without any difficulty. 



When once in the laurel-bottle your captures are quite safe : the 

 fumes of prussic acid appear to have no painful effect whatever on 

 the imprisoned insects ; they walk about with apparent unconcern, 

 after the first minute or two exhibiting a little weakness of the joints, 

 and at the end of five or six minutes turning on their backs and 

 ceasing to move. This, however, is only a temporary stupor or 

 torpor, or coma, as mesmerists would call it, for I have known them 

 entirely wake up, recover, and attend to the ordinary occupations of 

 life, even after passing twenty minutes in this comatose state therefore 



