396 THE BICELLULA, 



would scarcely expect to meet witli them, namely on 

 some little islands off Torquay, and on a rock in the 

 sea off Teignmouth ; in the latter locality, which was 

 quite destitute of vegetation, they were in such pro- 

 fusion, that the rock appeared quite red with them. 

 Their food consists of vegetable juices, and they are 

 said by Leon Dufour to be partial to the seed-vessels 

 of the mallow, although, according to Hausmann and 

 other observers, they frequently suck the dead bodies 

 of other insects, and even of their own species. 



Agreeing in the absence of ocelli, and in the four- 

 jointed rostrum and antennae, with the preceding 

 solitary British example of an extensive foreign tribe, 

 but differing from it widely in many respects, and 

 especially in the structure of the hemelytra, is a large 

 group of small and usually delicate Bugs, the mem- 

 bers of which may be met with everywhere in abun- 

 dance. The construction of the hemelytra in this 

 group somewhat resembles that exhibited by the last 

 members of the Infericornia to which I have referred, 

 the corium being divided by a transverse impressed 

 line or suture, in such a manner that its apical por- 

 tion is cut off in the form of a triangular appendix, 

 whilst the membrane, which is almost always present, 

 exhibits only a few veins, forming a pair of cells at 

 its base, without any longitudinal veins running from 

 these towards the margin. From this latter character 

 the tribe is denominated the Bicellula. The an- 

 tennae usually taper more or less from the base to 

 the apex, or at least the last two joints are thinner 

 than those which precede them. 



These insects may be found in abundance upon 



