CHAPTER XV. 

 THE BUGS, OR SUCKING INSECTS. 



WE now come to insects which gain their livelihood by 



piercing and sucking the sap of plants or the blood of other 

 insects; and the change in the jaws by which 

 a sucking beak is formed is very curious. 



One can obtain an excellent idea of what 

 a bug is by dissect- 

 ing a common 

 squash-bug (Fig. 

 105). With a lens 

 and a needle 

 FIG. 106. squash- mounted in a han- 

 dle, the student 



can, after a few trials, dissect the 



head from the body, examine the 



beak, the wings; separate the thorax 



into its separate segments, dissect 



the hind body or abdomen from 



the thorax, and study these parts 



with the aid of Fig. 105, always 



remembering to compare each part 



with its corresponding part in the 



grasshopper. It will be seen that FIG. 



the bug has, besides a pair of com- 



pound eyes, two simple eyes be- 

 hind ; and that it takes its food by 



suction, plunging its long slender 



beak into the stems of plants or 



into the flesh of its victim. This beak is the distinctive 



mark of the bugs, which thus differ from other insects in 



labium, which contains the bris- 

 tle-like mandibles (md) and 

 maxillae (m.r), whose bases are 

 shown by the dotted lines in 

 the head; Ibr, labrum; ant, 

 antenna. 



