HEXAPODA : HEMIPTERA OK BUGS, ETC. 325 



form is hemispherical or oval, the head is sunken, and 

 the antennae are wide apart. The Cucumber Beetle, the 

 Ladder Beetle (Fig. 435),- are examples of this family. 



FIG. 435. 

 FIG. 434. if^f FIG. 436. 



Cucumber Beetle, Ladder Beetle, Lady-bug, 



Galeruca vit/ala, Fabr. Chrysomela scalaris, LeConte. Coccindla novemnotata, 



Harris. 



And lastly, we may notice the Lady-birds or CoccinelH- 

 dse as representatives of the Coleoptera. These are small 

 beetles, more or less hemispherical in form, and of a black, 

 red. or yellow color, ornamented with spots. They are 

 rapacious in their habits, both in the larva and in their 

 adult state, devouring plant-lice. 



5. THE SUB-ORDER or HEMIPTERA are insects which 

 have the mouth-parts in the form of a slender horny 

 beak, consisting of a horny sheath inclosing three sharp 

 bristle-like organs, the whole being fitted for a sucking 

 apparatus. When not in use this beak is bent under the 

 body, and lies upon the breast. Bugs, Cicadas, Plant- 

 lice, etc., are familiar examples of this group of insects. 

 The bugs may be regarded as the typical members of the 

 group, as their wings are thick in their basal portion and 

 thin towards their tips ; that is, in general terms, half of 

 the wing is of one degree of thickness, and the other half 

 of another degree, and hence the name Hemiptera, 

 from the Greek hemi, half, and pteron, a wing. As the 

 wings of Bngs thus differ in the two regions, basal and 

 terminal, these insects are often called Hemiptera 

 heteroptera. 



