DESCRIPTION OF GREEN BUG 



11 



sides in apposition. From the hind end of these plates 

 and in the median line a slit proceeds to the posterior 

 margin dividing the hind end into two lobes called the 

 anal lobes (see Text-fig. 1). When the bug is gently 

 pressed the anal plates separate and through the opening 

 appear eight wax-covered spines surrounded by a fluted 

 collar, the everted end of the alimentary canal. These 

 spines open out like a flower and a drop of liquid appears 

 which bursts and falls quite clear of the bug (see Text-fig. 

 2). The fluid is the saccharine substance which is found 

 covering the upper surface of the leaves of infested plants, 

 the so-called honey dew. If the bug is turned on its back, 

 three pairs of legs and the mouth can be observed. On the 

 under surface of the abdominal portion of the body faint 

 traces of seg- 

 mentation are 

 visible under 

 the micro- 

 scope. The 

 margin is 

 found to have, 

 at short inter- 

 vals, a series 

 of spines with 

 frayed ends. 

 At two points 

 on each side 

 there are stou-' 

 ter spines, the 



central one in each group being twice the size of the other 

 two. These mark the end of the grooves proceeding from 

 the spiracles or breathing pores which are situated at 

 some distance from the margin. There are two pairs of 

 spiracles, the first pair a little behind and away from 

 the origin of the first pair of legs and the second pair 

 between the second and the third pair of legs. The spiracles 

 look like shortened stethoscopes. The grooves from these 

 to the margin are called the stigmatic clefts, and are 

 usually filled with a white waxy secretion which gives 

 them the appearance, under a lens, of faint white lines. 

 The upper surface of the insect shows small translucent 

 spaces which are oval or round. The antennae or feelers 

 are seven-jointed, the third and fourth longest and sub- 

 equal, the seventh nearly equal in length to the fifth and 



Text-Figure 2. 



Posterioi- end of gi'een bug [Coccus colemani) showing everted 

 anus and drop of honey dew excreted. 



