OR SHIELD-BUGS. 389 



These insects are found upon various plants, of 

 which they suck the juices by means of their rostrum. 

 Their larvae, which are softer and more convex than 

 the perfect insects, and usually of a yellow or orange 

 colour with dark patches, are found in the same si- 

 tuations, and often in company with the perfect in- 

 sects. Their antennae contain only four, and their 

 tarsi two joints ; they are also, as above stated, desti- 

 tute of ocelli. 



The species in which the scutellum covers at least 

 the whole inner margin of the elytra, are for the 

 most part inhabitants of the tropical regions of the 

 earth, where many of them attain a considerable size 

 and exhibit the most brilliant metallic colours. A 

 few of these insects, however, occur in this country, 

 the largest being the Eurygaster maurus, which mea- 

 sures about two-fifths of an inch in length, and is 

 of a greyish- brown colour, with darker stripes. It 

 is usually found upon the young ears of barley, the 

 juices of which it sucks. The other species are rare, 

 with the exception of the Podops inunctus, which ap- 

 pears to be abundant in some localities ; this is about 

 a quarter of an inch in length, of an oval form and 

 greyish colour, with little knobs projecting from the 

 anterior angles of the prothorax, close to the head. 



One of our most abundant and fetid species is the 

 Tropicoris rufipes, which may be met with almost 

 everywhere in gardens, woods and fields, and may be 

 met with frequently even in the heart of London. 

 Old Berkenhout probably refers to this insect under 

 the name of Cimex Baccarum, when he tells us with 

 laudable gravity that he " caught one of these on the 

 bag of a gentleman's wig in Fleet Street ;" one can 

 fancy the scene, with the half-suppressed contempt of 



