HALF-WINGED INSECTS 



327 



Mo<«i bj «'. P. Ddndi, F.Z.i. 



SHIELD-BUG 



JUNIPER-BUG 



In tropical countries these bugs are Some species of this family are car- 

 <jjien as large as cockchafers niiiorous as ivetl as herbivorous 



HALF-WINGED INSECTS, OR BUGS AND FROG-HOPPERS 



BV W. V. KIRHY, F.L.S 



The order including the Bugs and Frog-hoppers is divided into two sub-orders. There are 



also one or two small groups, sometimes treated as separate orders, and sometimes regarded 



as aberrant sections of the order, to which we shall allude later. 



The True Bugs have their fore wings of a horny texture, but generally overlapping, 



and the extremities form a transparent 



membrane, resembling that of the hind 



wings. They have a long sucking-proboscis 



curved down beneath their bodies, and 



their antennae usually consist of only four 



or five long joints. Most are vegetable- 

 feeders, but some species feed on the 



juices of other insects, while a few attack 



warm-blooded animals, either casuall}' or 



habitually. 



The first famih' includes the Shield- 



BUGS. These derive their name from the 



unusual development of a part of the 



thorax called the " scutellum." In most 



insects it is only a small plate of no great 



importance, attached to the end of the 



thorax; but in the Shield-bugs it forms 



a great solid arch, covering the whole of 



the wings, and protecting them as the 



wing-cases protect the wings of beetles. There are only a few small species in England, but a 



great number of beautiful species inhabit warm countries, some of a brilliant blue or green 



or yellow, or spotted. Many of them are comparatively large insects, nearly an inch long, 



and resemble brilliantl}' coloured beetles, from which, however, the\- can easily be distinguished 



by the antennae, the proboscis, and the shield, the latter of which is not divided down the 



middle like the wing-cases of beetles. 

 "^ Next to the Shield-bugs, and 



considered by many entomologists as 

 belonging to the same group, are 

 the Pentagonal Shield-bugs, so 

 called because the scutellum, though 

 much smaller than in the Shield- 

 bugs, is often half as long as the 

 abdomen, and forms a broad triangle, 

 sometimes broken at the sides, so 

 as to make a five-sided plate, 

 lying above the bases of the wings. 

 Several green or brown species of 

 this family, about half an inch long, 

 are common in England among 

 bushes. Man_\' have a very dis- 

 ; agreeable smell, and hence they are 

 called Stink-bugs in America. They 

 feed on vegetable juices, and also 

 frequently on soft-bodied insects, 



photo jy J, EduiarJi] 



LACE-WING BUG 



^f: elegant /icti'e insect, injurious to pear-trees 



