190 



INSECTS. 



Pyrrhocoris apterus (three 

 times the nat. size). 



met with in Britain, which may be known by its red and black colours, and the 

 want of hind-wings, as well as of a membranous part to its elytra. The plant- 

 bugs (Phytocoridce) have the following characters. Head triangular in shape, 

 tricarinate above, and without ocelli ; antennae long, four- 

 jointed, with the second joint longest, and the last two very 

 slender ; rostrum four-jointed, resting against the under side 

 of the thorax, and almost reaching to the end of it; tarsi 

 three-jointed ; elytra with an appendix, or small angular 

 piece, divided off by a transverse suture from the rest of 

 the coriaceous part of the elytra, and corning between it and 

 the membrane. This family is well represented in temperate 

 regions, and about three hundred European species are known. 

 They are mostly soft-bodied, fragile bugs, presenting a con- 

 siderable variety of colour, of which green is in many cases 

 the predominant tint. They live principally on honey, and 

 are to be found on flowers and in meadows. Phytocoris 

 tripustulatus, a species with black elytra, marked with three 

 orange spots on the outer margin, is common on nettles. We give an enlarged 

 figure of another species (Calocoris striatellus), widely distributed throughout 

 Europe, and met with chiefly on umbelliferous plants. The Acanthiidce form a 

 family of mostly very small bugs, which are usually without ocelli, and have a 

 three -jointed beak lodged in a groove along the under side of the head and 

 two-jointed tarsi. These bugs frequently have a somewhat peculiar appearance ; 

 owing to the membranous or vesicular lobes with 

 which the thorax, abdomen, and elytra are often 

 furnished. For this reason they are sometimes 

 known as membranaceous bugs. The species of the 

 genus Tingis are seldom more than one-sixth of an 

 inch long, and distinguished by the knob-like ends to 

 their antennae, as well as by the foliaceous expansion 

 of their thorax, and the extension of the latter behind 

 to cover the scutellum. The common T. affinis may 

 be recognised by the brown colour of its body, its 

 transparent borders, with transverse brown nervures, 

 and the x -shaped spot on the middle of each elytron. 

 This species may be found on sandy soil among the 

 roots of grasses, or under plants, such as wormwood, 



belonging to the genus Artemisia. Another species (F. pyri) is noted for the 

 injury it does to pear trees, by pricking holes in hundreds on the under side of 

 the leaves and extracting the sap. It is of a brown colour, with pale yellow or 

 white elytra, marked with a brown spot at the base and another at the extremity. 

 Aradus corticalis is a common species, found under bark, which we figure to give 

 an idea of the flattened form and membranous appearance of the bugs of the sub- 

 family Aradince. These bugs have a longer rostrum and more cylindrical antennas 

 than those of the Tingitince. The bed-bug (Cimex lectidarius), which also belongs 

 to this family, is a wingless species, with four-jointed antennae, and a beak composed 



Calocoris striatellus (much enlarged). 



