HEMIPTEKA OK BUGS 



Order IX. Hemiptera. 



Mouth consisting of a proboscis or mobile beak (usually concealed 

 by being bent under the body), appearing as a transversly- 

 jointed rod or grooved sheath, in which are enclosed long 

 slender setae (like horse-hairs). Wings (nearly always) four ; 

 the anterior frequently more horny than the posterior pair, 

 and folding flat on the back, their apical portions usually 

 more membranous than the base (Heteroptera) ; or the four 

 wings may cover the abdomen in a roof -like manner, and 

 those of the anterior pair may not have the basal and apical 

 parts of different consistences (Homoptera) ; sometimes all 

 four of the wings are transparent. The young resembles the 

 adult in general form ; the wings are developed outside the 

 body, by growth, at the moults, of the sides of the hinder por- 

 tions of the meso- and meta-notum ; the metanotal prolonga- 

 tions being more or less concealed by the mesonotal. 



THE Hemiptera or Bugs are perhaps more widely known as 

 Rhynchota. In deciding whether an Insect belongs to this 

 Order the student will do well to examine in the first place 

 the beak, treating the wings as subordinate in importance, their 

 condition being much more variable than that of the beak. The 

 above definition includes no reference to the degraded Anoplura 

 or Lice. These are separately dealt with on p. 599 ; they are 

 absolutely wingless, and have an unjointed proboscis not placed 

 beneath the body, the greater part of it being usually withdrawn 

 inside the body of the Insect. 



The Hemiptera are without exception sucking Insects, and 



