OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



FIG. 91. Left Elytron of Calocoris 

 Mpunctatus. a, corium ; b, cla- 

 vus ; c, cuneus ; d, membrane. 



to a killing-bottle. After death, the fore- wings may be 

 easily detached and mounted on white cardboard, when 

 they will be ready for examination with a lens. 



Fig. 9 1 shows one of the elytra of this insect ; the 

 basal part is rather stiff and horny, and brightly 

 coloured with green or orange ; 

 the tip is of much more deli- 

 cate texture, being quite thin, 

 flexible, and transparent, and 

 devoid of bright colour. This 

 difference of texture in the 

 two parts of the wing, which is a very constant char- 

 acter, is the foundation for the name Hemiptera, i.e., 

 " half- wings," as well as for that of Heteroptera, i.e., 

 "dissimilar wings." 



The horny basal part consists of two areas divided by 

 a flexible junction : the outer one, a four-sided piece, 

 with two long and two short sides, 

 being called the corium, and the inner, 

 a roughly triangular piece, the clavus. 

 At the margin of the corium furthest 

 from the body is a small triangular or 

 wedge-shaped area, almost as stout as 

 the corium itself, but distinctly divided 

 both from it and from the more remote 

 part; it is called the cuneus. The 

 rest of the wing, constituting the 

 FIG : 92- -closed Elytra whole of the tip, is quite flexible, 



of Calocons bipunc- 



tatus. a, corium; and is spoken of as the membrane. 



b, clavus ; c, cuneus ; 



d, membrane ; e, scu- When the elytra are closed (Fig. 02) 



tellum;/,prothorax. \ ! 



The right membrane the shortest sides of the two triangular 



overlaps the left. . . , . , . , , , . 



clavi exactly meet on the back below 

 the apex of the scutellum, while the inner edges abut 

 on its sloping sides. The membranes, however, overlap 



