CHAPTER YIII 



HEMIPTEKA OK BUGS 



Order IX. Hemiptera. 



Movth consisting of a prohoscis or mobile healc {\isucdly concealed 

 Jiy heing bent iinder the body\ appearing as a transvcrsly- 

 jointed, rod or grooved sheath, in which are enclosed long 

 slender setae {like horse-hairs). Wings {nearly always) four ; 

 the anterior frequeritly more horny thaii the posterior pair, 

 and folding flat on the bach, th cir apical portions v.sucdly 

 more membranous than the base (Heteroptera) ; or the four 

 wings may cover the ahdomen in a roof-like manner, and 

 those of the anterior 'pc^i'^' '^nay not hare the basal and apiccd 

 jJarts of different consistences (Homoptera) : sometimes all 

 four of the wings are transparent. The young resembles tlic 

 adult in gcnercd form ; the loings are developed outside the 

 body, by growth, at the moults, of the sides of the hinder ptor- 

 tions of tlie meso- and meta-notum ; the metanotcd prolonga- 

 tions being more or less concealed by the mesonotal. 



The Hemiptera or Bugs are perhaps more widely known as 

 Ehynchota. In deciding whether an Insect belongs to this 

 Order the student will do well to examine in the first place 

 the beak, treating the wings as su1x)rdinate in importance, their 

 condition being much more variable than that of the beak. The 

 above definition includes no reference to the degraded Anoplura 

 or Lice. These are separately dealt with on p. 599 ; they are 

 absolutely wingless, and have an unjointed proboscis not placed 

 beneath the body, the greater part of it being usually withdrawn 

 inside the body of the Insect. 



The Hemiptera are without exception sucking Insects, and 



