CHAPTER V 



THE BUGS WITH OVERLAPPING WINGS: HEMIPTERA 



And there's never a blade nor a leaf too mean 



To be some happy creature's palace. 



Lowell 



The Squash Bug. The squash bug (An'asa tris'tis, Fig. 23), 

 a well-known enemy of squash and pumpkin vines, pos- 

 sesses a beak with which it sucks plant fluids. This bug 

 is a little over two centimeters 

 (nearly an inch) long, and brown- 

 ish black in color. The two pairs 

 of wings are unlike in structure. 

 The under wings are membranous 

 and delicate, and 



X 



the outer wings 

 are stiffened at 

 the base and 

 have membranous tips which 

 overlap on the back at the 

 posterior end. The squash 

 bug has the power, in common 

 with many other allied species, 

 of pouring out an evil-smelling 

 secretion from two openings near 

 the base of the middle pair of 

 legs, which probably renders it 

 obnoxious to some creatures 

 which might prey upon it. Ob- 

 servations on the food of birds of 



39 



V 



\J% 



Fig. 23. Squash bug and young. 

 (Natural size) 



