12 



BULLETIN 67, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



wing over the other. This part of the wing is especially modified 

 to make the sound. Each species has a characteristic note, which 

 can be recognized by one familiar with them. The katydid (fig. 14) 

 lives in the tops of trees, and though the telltale notes are well known 

 to many, the insect is rarely seen by anyone. 



The crickets (family Gryllidae) are very similar to the meadow 

 locusts, but have only three joints to the tarsi, while the locusts have 

 four. The males of both groups have a special singing organ, a modi- 

 fication of the veins at the base of the wings. Some crickets (fig. 15), 

 known as mole crickets (Gryllotalpa) , are very different from the others, 

 and have their front legs fitted for digging in the soil. They also 

 have short antennas and lack the ovipositor. Most of the crickets 

 are phytophagous, but those found on trees (fig. 16) are predaceous. 



**/k 



Fig. 17. — A Pentatomid bug, Stiretrus anchorago: a, Adult; 6, nymph. 



In all of these three families there are some short-winged or wingless 

 forms (fig. 152), and sometimes a species varies in wing-length. 



HEMIPTERA. 



The Hemiptera, or Rhynchota as they are known to many Euro- 

 peans, differ from the members of all previous orders in the nature of 

 their mouthparts. These are slender and needlelike and form a beak 

 fitted for sucking liquids, as blood, or the sap of plants. It is to these 

 insects that the entomologist applies the name "bug." The trans- 

 formations are incomplete — that is, the young have much resem- 

 blance to the adults, and there is no resting stage. A few families 

 (Coccidse and Aleyrodida?) have a more complete metamorphosis. 

 There are four distinct groups, or suborders — the Heteroptera, 

 Homoptera, Phytophthires, and the Anoplura. 



The Heteroptera have the basal part of the forewings hardened 

 and thicker than the apical part, and the apical parts cross flatly when 

 at rest. The beak arises from the front part of the head. With most 

 of the Heteroptera (see fig. 17) the head is much smaller than the thorax 



