556 



HEMIPTERA-HETEROPTERA 



long-leg flies ; they are, however, highly predaceous ; their front 

 legs are peculiarly formed for capturing and holding their prey, and 

 have long coxae, like Mantis, so that these Insects are commonly 

 mistaken for small or young Mantises, from which their sucking 

 proboscis at once distinguishes them. This curious starved-look- 

 ing form of bug reaches its maximum of peculiarity in the South 



American genus Ghili- 

 anella (Fig. 268). Ac- 

 cording to Pascoe the 

 linear form enables the 

 young larva to be carried 

 about by the mother, 

 the long slender abdo- 

 men of the larva being 

 curled around the 

 thorax of the parent. 

 Ploiaria pallida, from 

 Woodlark Island, is 

 an Insect of excessive 

 fragility and elegance, 

 with the long thin legs 

 coloured with alternate 

 patches of black on a 

 white ground, giving 

 rise to a very curious 

 appearance remarkably 

 analogous to what we 

 find in some of the 

 equally delicate daddy- 

 long-leg flies. 



We have three species of Emesides in Britain, but most of our 

 Keduviidae belong to the sub-family Nabides. These approxi- 

 mate to ordinary bugs in appearance and characters more than 

 do any other of the Keduviidae. One of our indigenous Nabides 

 is of great interest from the curious resemblance it has to an ant 

 (Fig. 269). The likeness is brought about by the sides of the 

 base of the abdomen being very pallid in colour, except a dark 

 mark in the middle ; this mark is in shape like the pedicel of an 

 ant. Viewed in profile it is found that on the base of the abdo- 

 men there is an elevation like the " scale " in this position in 



FIG. 269. Nabis lativentris, young. Cambridge. 

 A, Insect seen from above ; B, profile. 



