144 THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



of it is the nature of the venation of the membrane of the 

 wing-covers. This part is furnished with many 

 veins, most of which spring from a cross-vein near 

 Fu, I76 . its base (Fig. 176). 



The Squash-bug, Anasa tristis (An'a-sa tris'- 

 tis), is a good example of this great family. These when full- 

 grown are brownish-black bugs, with some yellow spots 

 along the edges of the abdomen (Fig. 177), 

 and are dirty yellow on the under side. This 

 bug winters in the adult state, and takes the 

 first opportunity in the spring to lay its eggs 

 on the earliest sprouts of squash and pumpkin 

 vines. As soon as they hatch, the young bugs 

 attack the vines and are apt to destroy them ^ 



* FIG. 177. Anasa 



entirely. The remedy is to protect the young tristis. 

 plants by frames covered with netting. 



Family PENTATOMID^: (Pen-ta-tom'i-dae). 

 The Stink-brig Family. 



This is a family the taste and odor of which most of us 

 know to our sorrow. We learn the flavor in one experience, 

 and conclude that once is enough for a lifetime. To those 

 who live in cities it may always remain a mystery why one 

 berry looking just like another should taste and smell so 

 differently ; but all barefooted boys and sun-bonneted girls 

 from the country who have picked the wild strawberries on 

 the hillsides or scratched their hands and faces in raspberry 

 patches know well the angular green or brown bugs that 

 leave a loathsome trail behind them ; and they will tell you, 

 too, that the bugs themselves are worse than their trail, for 

 it is a lucky youngster that has not taken one of these insects 

 into his mouth by mistake with a handful of berries. 



It should not be concluded, however, that only members 

 of this family possess this disagreeable odor ; for most of the 

 Heteroptera protect themselves by rendering their bodies 

 unpalatable in this way. Doubtless birds soon learn this 



