42 BED-BUGS. LOCUSTS. 



corselet, and a thick beak inserted beneath the front. They are 

 designated under the common name of bugs, and are divided into 

 GEO'CORIS^E (from the Greek, ge, land, and koris, bug) or land- 

 bugs, and HYDRO'CORISJE (from the Greek, Wor, water, and 

 is, bug) or water-bugs. 



The Pentato'ma (fig. 36) is the type of the 

 family of Geo'corisce. 



5. The bugs, properly so called (Cimex), 

 also belong to this family ; they have a soft flat- 

 tened body, and are unprovided with wings. 

 The too well-known insect, vulgarly called the 

 bed-bug (Cimex lectularius), sucks the blood of 

 Fig. 36. man w hil e he sleeps, and when in danger, or 



PENTATOMA. when crushed, exhales a fetid odour ; it is the 

 scourge of old dirty houses ; during winter, it is 

 torpid. It is pretended that this insect did not exist in England 

 previous to the fire of London in 1666, and that it was transported 

 thither in timber from America. They were known long before 

 that time on the continent of Europe. Great cleanliness and 

 extreme vigilance are the best means of keeping clear of these 

 noxious insects. 



6. The HOMOP'TER^E, in which the elytra, in place of being 

 horizontal as in the preceding, are inclined and similar to wings, 

 live exclusively on the juices of plants, and are generally remark- 

 able for the length of the beak which arises from the inferior and 

 posterior part of the head. 



7. The locvst Cicada 

 (Jig. 37) belongs to this 

 family. The males make a 

 monotonous noisy kind of 

 music, which is produced by 

 an organ situated at each side 

 of the base of the abdomen. 

 They live on trees and suck 

 their sap ; one species is in 

 Fig. 37. LOCUST. the habit of stinging a species 



of the ash, causing an exuda- 

 tion of a honey-like' juice, which, growing thick by evaporation 

 in the air, constitutes manna. The elytra are almost always 

 transparent and veined. The female deposits her eggs in the 

 pith of dead twigs. The young larva? leave their asylum to 

 penetrate the earth, where they grow and experience their meta- 

 morphosis. 



5. What are the characters of the genus Cimex ? 



6. What are the characters of the section Homop'tera ? 



7. What are the habits of locusts ? How is manna produced ? Where 

 do locusts deposit their eggs ? 



