CHAPTER IV 



THE HEMIPTERA, OR THE BUGS AND THEIR 

 ALLIES 



By many unsophisticated people the term bug is applied 

 to almost any sort of insect and even to a number of 

 creatures which are not insects at all. In its stricter sense 

 the word is used to designate any member of a certain di- 

 vision of the order Hemiptera. The Hemip- 

 tera in general include insects with a 

 gradual or incomplete metamorphosis and 

 sucking mouth parts. In typical members 

 of the division Heteroptera, or true bugs, 

 the anterior wings are thickened at the 

 base, and the terminal portions are more FIG. 24. The 

 or less membranous. The second pair of ^* ^ gf 

 wings which are membranous are folded 

 under the first pair and constitute the chief organs of flight. 



A good example of a true bug is furnished by the well- 

 known squash bug of our gardens. The sucking organ 

 which the bug uses to pierce and suck out the juices of 

 plants consists of an elongated under lip, or labium, which 

 is converted into a tube or sheath enclosing two pairs of 

 very slender and sharp piercing organs which are com- 

 monly held to represent the highly modified mandibles 

 and first maxillae. The squash bug is protected from its 

 enemies by means of stink glands which open on the side 

 of the thorax and secrete an ill-smelling substance which 

 is poured out when the insect is disturbed. 



One of the most injurious of the bugs is the chinch 



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