HETEEOPTEEA. 



CHAPTER I. 

 AUEOCORISd, OR AIR-BUGS. 



The reader may remember that the insects of the last order are 

 called Homoptera because their wings are of similar character. 

 In the new order which now comes before us, the wings are 

 formed after a manner which has earned for them the name of 

 Heteroptera, or Different-wings. They include a large number 

 of familiar insects, many of them aquatic, among which may be 

 mentioned the Water-fleas, the Water-scorpions, the Water- 

 boatmen, and the too familiar Bed-bug. 



In some of these insects the wings are not developed, but in 

 those that are furnished with wings the upper pairs are larger 

 than the lower, and lap over them when the insect is at rest, 

 and the basal part of them is hard and leathery, while the 

 remainder is membranous and translucent. The body is always 

 flattened, and the mouth furnished with a beak, or proboscis, 

 which starts from the under surface of the head, but from the 

 front and not the back. The pupa is active, and resembles the 

 perfect insect in appearance, save that it does not possess wings. 



These insects are broadly divided into two great sections, 

 the one called "Hydrocorisa, or Water-bugs, and the other, 

 Greocorisa, or Land-bugs. 



We will begin with the. latter of these two sections. Mr. 

 Westwood prefers to give to the insects the name of Aurocorisa, 

 or Air-bugs, because many of the species do not affect the land, 

 but pass the greater part of their time on tlie water, though 

 they do not dive beneath its surface. 



The first of these insects is the rather rare one which is 

 represented in the accompanying illustration. Having already 



