15° 



AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



Fig. iio. 



A watei-boatinaii, Notonecta species. 



YXO. III. 



The sub-order Heteroptera contains those species of hugs in 

 which the upper wings are thickened toward the base and the 



terminal portion is membraneous 

 and veined. We have a large 

 number ofspecies belonging here, 

 and some large series may be en- 

 tirely left out of consideration. 

 Such, for instance, are the 

 aquatic families, all of which seem 

 to be carnivorous in habit, 

 whether they live on the surface 

 of the water or beneath it. One 

 of the water-boatmen, a species of Corisa, may be mentioned, 

 because its eggs are used as food in Mexico. These eggs are 

 nearly white in color, about one-tenth of an inch in diameter, and 

 laid in great numbers on sedges, where they are collected by the 



natives. Judging from the usual odor 

 of the bugs and from the taste of 

 such eggs as are sometimes involun- 

 tarily eaten on fruits, it requires a 

 specially-developed gustatory appa- 

 ratus to enjoy a meal of this char- 

 acter. This suggests the fact that 

 one of the peculiarities of this sub- 

 order is the more or less marked 

 presence of odors, differing some- 

 what in kind, but all of them intensely 

 disagreeable. In bed-bugs we have 

 one type in marked perfection, while 

 in the "squash-bug" we find an ex- 

 cellent illustration of another. 



One of the water-bugs that some- 

 times attracts attention is a huge 

 creature, two or three inches in 

 length, broad in proportion, livid 

 gray in color, flattened above, with 

 a short beak and very large, thick- 

 ened forelegs, often drawn in considerable numbers to electric 

 lights. It is the Belostoma atnerkana, which lives in ponds and 



lii'lostoma amei icana . 



