On Subaquatic Insects. 127 



are found to be furnished with longthairs ; and M. Audouin observes 

 that when the insect is plunged into water each of these hairs " re» 

 tient une petite couche du fluide elastique qui, reuni d'abord en 

 petits spheroides, forme bientot un globule lequel entoure son corps 

 de toutes parts et qui malgre l'agitation qu'il se donne en courant 

 dans l'eau, au fond ou contre les parois du vase ou on la place ne 

 s'echappe jamais." But this bubble of air is so small that, from 

 the length of time that the insect remains submerged, it must soon 

 become unfitted for respiration. And it is only by adopting the views 

 of M. Dutrochet that we can explain the manner in which the Aepus 

 is enabled to remain beneath the surface of the water. M. Audouin 

 has noticed the large ungues with which this insect is provided, en- 

 abling it to cling firmly to the stones, &c. amongst which it is found ; 

 but in addition to these, the penultimate joint of the anterior tarsi 

 is furnished with a long and curved bristle, meeting the ungues, 

 which, together with the strongly developed jaws and under jaws, 

 indicates very rapacious habits, the former being evidently service- 

 able in securing its prey. We can indeed easily perceive the ne- 

 cessity for activity in an insect situated, as the Aepus must be, be- 

 neath the rolling tide, both in its ordinary motions, and in obtain- 

 ing its supply of food. 



In a subsequent note, published in the Annales des Sciences Na- 

 turelies, M. Audouin has pointed out the identity between this in- 

 sect and the Cicindela marina of Strom, published in the Nouv. Me- 

 moires de la Societe Royale de Danemark, for 1783. 



Mr Spence, in a short memoir published in the third part of the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, has collected 

 notices from the Transactions of the Old Entomological Society and 

 the British Entomology of Mr Curtis, of two other Coleopterous in- 

 sects having similar habits, namely, Pogonus Burrellii, Haw. the ha- 

 bitation of which is entirely covered with water during the winter, 

 and part of the summer months, and Bledius tricornis, which inha- 

 bits the sand hills near the sea at Cley in Norfolk. 



In the Entomological Magazine, Number *J, April 1834, is con- 

 tained an interesting memoir by the Rev. G. T. Rudd upon the habits 

 of Hesperophilus arenarius and Dyschirius — ? the former of which 

 was observed by him in great flights settling on the sand below 

 high-water mark. Mr Rudd inquires " what would become of the 

 multitudes that dropped many yards below high-water mark, and 

 burrowed in the sand ? Would they again take wing ? or would 

 they perish as the flood covered their hiding place ? I waited 

 to see the event. The tide rolled on — covered the sands — withfall 

 their inhabitants — and again receded. I disturbed my friends from 



