i6o 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



patches have the effect of painting out as it were part of the body, 

 and so altering its apparent shape that it becomes exceedingly ant- 

 like. This likeness is especially noticeable when the bug is seen from 

 the side. In some of the foreign species this resemblance to other Insects is 

 strongly developed. A Brazilian species ^ is to all appearance a young " stick " 

 with thread-like body, and the exceedingly long legs are, of course, finer still. The 

 first pair have the foot hinged so that it can fold down on the shank, mantis-fashion, 

 and so serve for securing prey. A Chinese bug,^ three-quarters of an inch in length, 

 is got up exactly like a daddy long-legs ; and a related species in Brazil bears an 

 extraordinary resemblance to a large wasp, and imitates the buzz of the wasp. 



Very little is known of the life-histories of the various species of bugs ; but 

 it has been ascertained that a few species at least display some parental instinct, 

 such as one usually finds restricted to the social Insects — ants, wasps, and bees. 



The most noteworthy example is a British 

 species ^ found on birch-trees, which emulates 

 the domestic virtues of the earwig, seeing that 

 she not only lays from thirty to forty eggs in 

 a diamond-shaped batch, but mounts guard 

 actually over them for three weeks, when they 

 hatch. The young bugs remain with their 

 mother, who covers them like a hen covers her 

 chicks, until a few days before their first moult, 

 after which they separate. In the South of 

 Europe there is another species,^ whose sides, 

 legs, and antennse bristle with long spines, 

 among which the male carries the eggs, which 

 are probably laid in position by his mate ; but 

 of this nothing certain is known. The ocean 

 bugs,^ with which we shall deal separately, 

 also carry their eggs, but the carrier is the 

 female. In some American species of fresh- 

 water bugs'' it is the male again that is 

 entrusted with this task ; they are laid in a broad patch in the middle of 

 his back. 



Among remarkable forms of bugs should be mentioned our conmron fresh- water 

 species, the water scorpion, which is so flat and thm that there does not appear to 

 be room for internal organs, but they are there, ne\ ertheless. The front legs have 

 the foot bent on the shank to enable it to capture and retain its victims whilst 

 they are being bled to death. A more remarkable adaptation of the fore-legs to this 

 purpose is found in the Burmese crab-bug,' whose upper parts are liberally 

 furnished with spines, and the fore-limbs are shaped like the nippers of a crab. 



The bugs that suck the j uices of plants include several which have the bad taste 

 to select man's crops for the purpose, and they are in consequence included in the 

 list of Insect pests. Among these is the mosquito blight^ of the East Indies, 

 which has remarkable outgrowths from its fore-body, and one of these looks like 



1 Ghilianella filiventris. ^ Myiodocha tipulina. ^ Acanthosoma intenstinctum. * Phyllomorpha 



laciniata. '^ Halobates. * Zaitha. ' Carcinocoris bingliami. " llelopcUis. 



Photo by] [E. Sh'p, F.L.S. 



Big-legged Bug. 



This bug, a native of Trinidad, etc., is remarkable for the 

 extraordinary development of the hind-legs as compared 

 with the first and second pairs. It is here shown of the 

 natural size. 



