BUGS. 205 



Family VIII. — Rechwiidce. 



Head long, narrowed behind into a neck ; eyes large, 

 prominent ; ocelli present ; rostrum thick, curved, and naked ; 

 antennae long, or moderately long, and slender towards the tip ; 

 legs long, strong, and often hairy ; habits carnivorous. 



An extensive family, easily recognisable by the peculiar shape 

 of many of the species. The typical species is the Wheel Bug, or 

 Masked Bug [Eeduvius Pcrsonatus, Linn.), a black insect, three- 

 quarters of an inch long, which is common in outhouses in the 

 country. It feeds on other insects (including the bed-bug, as 

 already mentioned), but although it rarely attacks man, its bite, 

 like that of most of the larger Beduviidcc, is very painful. The larva 

 of this species, as well as those of several of its allies, is also carni- 

 vorous, and is in the habit of encasing its body with particles of 

 dust, in order to conceal itself from its insect prey. 



Some of the foreign species of this fomily are most formidable 

 insects, such as the great black Conorrhinus Renggeri, Herr.-Schaff., 

 of Chili, which attacks travellers who are camping out, or who are 

 sleeping in outhouses, as mentioned by Darwin in his Journal of 

 the Voyage of the Beagle, and as I have lately been assured by Mr. 

 T. Edmonds, who lived for some years in that country, where he 

 made a fine collection of insects of all Orders. 



Pirates Stridulus, Fabr., is a black insect, about half an inch long, 

 with red fore wings spotted with black, and a red border to the 

 abdomen. It is common in South France under stones, and is 

 remarkable for the loud sound which it produces by rubbing its 

 neck against the front concavity of the prothorax. 



Aciviithaspis Sexguttata, Fabr., a brown yellow-spotted species, 

 common in the East Indies, is a good representative of some 

 of the exotic forms allied to Reduvius ; among the more aberrant 

 forms, Zelus Quadrisjnnosus, Linn., may be mentioned. It is a 

 large red South American species, with two strong spines project- 

 ing from the back of the thorax on each side, as shown in the 

 figure. 



Family IX. — Emesidce. 



Body long and slender; front coxse long, and front legs 

 raptorial; hinder legs very long; habits carnivorous; wings in 

 many species only developed occasionally, or not at all. 



The best-known species of this small family is Plcearia Vaqa- 



