CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 



BUGS, BEGINNING WITH SOME OF THE LOWEST, MOST DE- 

 GRADED OF THE BUG FAMILY. PARASITE DEAD-BEATS 

 AND OUTCAST BUGS. PLANT LICE. SCALES AND APHIDES. 



BUGS (hEMIPTERA) 



There is a very big family of insects properly 

 called " bugs." They are of all kinds, shapes and 

 sizes, some of them so different from others that 

 they do not appear to be relatives. But there are 

 certain family characteristics; for instance, their 

 mouths are different from the mouths of the other 

 insects, and to make them different, the head and 

 breast is altered to suit the necessity of hitcliing 

 on a horny, jointed, hollow beak to the front of the 

 head. This sucking tube is long, slender, and 

 tapering when it has to reach far into the substance 

 from which the bug feeds in order to get at the 

 juices, or it may be short and stout, according to 

 the food upon which the creature is dependent. 



Another difference is in its wings. As a rule, 

 the upper half of the wing is horny and thick and 

 the lower half thin and skinny, more like thin 

 transparent tracing paper. But with bugs as with 



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