BUGS. 5 
By means of contractile muscles the liquid nourishment is 
imbibed. We find, as a general rule, that bugs living upon the 
sap of plants have a long and slender beak, while those imbib- 
ing blood have a stout and shorter one. The sternum is so 
modified that it coincides with the form and use of the beak, since 
it has to support the movements of the head and its organs. 
The Hemiptera are either aerial, terrestrial, riparian, or 
aquatic. Some live high up in trees, others on the lower limbs 
and trunks; still others are found among the roots and rubbish 
on the ground. Many hide among the foliage of plants, among 
FIG. 6.—Different legs; a, grasping claw of Hog-louse; b, grasping front leg of a 
Soldier-bug. c, ditto of Phymata. Original. 
grasses and herbage, while others skim over the surface of 
placid waters, or swim below it, coming to the surface only to 
breathe. A few are found even remote from land, upon the 
quiet waters of tropical and sub-tropical oceans. But in all cases 
their legs are adapted to their mode of locomotion. 
Some are fitted for leaping, others for running and creep- 
ing, and still others for grasping tightly to the objects upon 
which they rest. Those that creep about in search of living 
prey are often furnished with curved or hooked fore-legs, suit- 
able for seizing and holding creatures when in motion, such as 
caterpillars and other larve (Fig. 6). The anterior femora of 
