CHAPTER XI 



THE TRUE BUGS, APHIDES, AND SCALE INSECTS (HEMIPTERA) 



Characteristics. Insects with four wings, except in the parasitic forms ; fore- 

 wings, thickened at the base, with membranous tips and overlapping on the 

 back in the Heteroptera, but entirely membranous and sloping at the sides of 

 the body in the suborder Homoptera ; mouth-parts, suctorial ; antennae, few- 

 jointed ; metamorphosis, incomplete. 



Ordinarily all insects or small, insectlike animals are called 

 bugs by the uninitiated, but when the entomologist speaks of a 



FIG. 139. Fore-wings of Heteroptera, showing thickened veins and arrangement 

 of veins in membranous tip characteristic of various families 



/, Cap sidae ; 2, Pyrrhocoridae ; j, Lygaeidae ; 4, Coreidae ; j, Nabidae ; 6, Acanthidae 



(After Comstock) 



bug he refers to an insect of the order Hemiptera. The insects 

 of this order are readily recognized by the strong, pointed suck- 

 ing beak which extends from the head between the legs, and in 

 which are inclosed the other mouth-parts, as already described (see 

 p. 17). They develop with an incomplete metamorphosis, as has 

 been described for the squash-bug (p. 50), which is a good ex- 

 ample of one group. The name of the order, Hemiptera, is de- 

 rived from hemi (half) and pteron (wing), but is really applicable 

 to only one suborder, the Heteroptera. The name Heteroptera has 

 a similar significance, referring to the fore-wings, which have the 



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