VII 

 HEMIPTERA 



The True Bugs, and Their Allies 

 This is a very large and a very important order of insects, 



readily distinguished from others by the form of the mouth- 

 parts. These are combined into a 



jointed beak that is adapted for 



puncturing and sucking (see figure 



26). Palpi have disappeared, and 



the prolonged labium enwraps the 



other parts in its up-folded edges. 



Two pairs of slender, chitinous, 



bristlelike stylets inside the sheath 



thus formed represent the two pairs 



of jaws. These stylets are channelled 



internally, so that when placed to- 

 gether they form a sucking tube. 



Their tips puncture: a muscular 



pharynx at the base of the stylets 



sucks through this tube. This group is thus equipped for 



obtaining either the sap of plants as in the squash bug, or 



the blood of animals, as in the bedbug. 



The nymphs in this group so closely resemble the adults, 



there is seldom any difficulty in recognizing their identity. 



They are mostly of similar habits. 



There are four great groups of Hemiptera that everyone 



should know, two of larger and two of smaller size. 



69 



Fig. 23. — The red milkweed bug, 

 Oncopeltus fasciatus. (From the 

 author's General Biology.) 



