* 
FLAT-BUGS. 43 
FAMILY ARADIDAE. 
(Flat-bugs). 
Members of this family are easily recognized by the ex- 
treme flatness of their bodies, which enables them to live under 
the bark of decaying trees, and to move about in such cramped 
situations. Nearly all are of a dark brown color, but some, and 
especially in their younger stages, are brown, or even reddish. 
As they seem to feed upon fungi they need no grasping front 
legs, and so we find that all their legs are of a similar form. 
Fic. 35.—Aradus robustus Uhl. Fic. 36.—Aradus robustus Uhl., young 
Original. stage. Original. 
There are no ocelli; the feelers are four-jointed and rather 
broad; the beak is three-jointed, the tarsi two-jointed. The 
wing-covers are usually well developed, but do not in all cases 
cover the abdomen, which projects on all sides. 
Wherever found these insects occur in large numbers, and 
frequently we find all stages crowded together. The eggs, glisten- 
ing white in color, are deposited under the bark. It is fre- 
quently stated that bed-bugs occur in our pine-woods in a wild 
condition under bark, etce., and that whenever a log cabin is 
