284 



METAZOAN PHYLA 



The term bug in its proper sense is applied only to the Hemiptera 

 (he mip' ter a; G., hemi, half, and pteron, wing). Among terrestrial 

 bugs are bedbugs, chinch bugs, squash bugs, and a variety of others, 

 which are all injurious for one reason or another. Chinch bugs, which 

 have been very destructive to small-grain crops in the Mississippi valley, 

 have been controlled most successfully by means of a contagious disease 



Honey tube 



B 



Fig. 182. — The corn-root aphis, Anuraphis maidiradicis (Forbes), the eggs and larvae 

 of which are cared for by the brown ant, Lasiiis niger var. americanus (Emery). A, the 

 winged form. B, the wingless form. Both much enlarged. C, diagram to illustrate the 

 care of the adults by the ants during the winter and their placing them on the roots of 

 the young corn plants in the spring. {From Davis, Farmers' Bull. 891, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



spread among them by releasing in the fields artificially infected bugs. 

 Aquatic forms include the water boatmen, back swimmers, and water 

 striders, which skate about on the surface of water upheld by the surface 

 film. 



The order Homoptera (ho mop' ter a; G., homopteros, having similar 

 wings) is related to Hemiptera. In it are the plant lice, or aphids. They 

 are small but they exist in enormous numbers, since many partheno- 



