92 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



excepted, have four wings, which are erected, as in 

 the Cicada, known under the name of Locust, or 

 folded up, as in the Squash-bug (Coreus tristis). 



Bugs do not metamorphose themselves into Cater- 

 pillars, like Butterflies; or into grubs, like the 

 May-beetles; or into maggots, like Bees and Flies. 

 They make no cocoons or chrysalis, but they burst 

 from their eggs in an almost perfect condition, that 

 is to say, with six legs and a proboscis, but without 

 wings. The Cicadas form the only exception to this 

 natural rule, and probably live in a larva state 

 more than two years in the ground. 



These Insects feed mostly on the juices of plants ; 

 but some of them pump out the circulating fluid 

 of Insects, and even the blood of warm-blooded 

 animals, on account of which they become very 

 annoying and troublesome to man. Some of this 

 order also give out a peculiarly unpleasant odour 

 when mashed, an odour that is often perceived in 

 the mouth when eating raspberries, blackberries, 

 or any other berries, and which is occasioned by 

 masticating with the fruit the eggs which these 

 Insects have deposited upon it, and which are not 

 easily detected by the sight. I once heard a 

 country-woman consoling her little boy, who com- 

 plained that the blackberries he was eating tasted 

 so much like Bed-bugs, by telling him, " Never mind, 



