334 ARTICULATA. INSECTA. 



ORDER VII. HEMIPTERA.* 



THE jaws which we have described in Eating In- 

 sects are here modified into a slender tube or sucker, 

 with which those of this Order pierce the skin of ani- 

 mals or plants, and suck the juices for support. 

 Most of them have the fore-part of the elytra opaque 

 and leathery in texture, but the hinder extremity 

 thin, membranous, and transparent, and this part ge- 

 nerally overlaps the corresponding part of the oppo- 

 site. Like the Insects of the preceding Order, they 

 are active in all their stages. 



The first family comprises the Bugs, included by 

 Linnaeus in his vast genus Cimex^ but now nume- 

 rously divided. 



Most of the species are found on trees and plants, 

 not for the sake of their juices, but in pursuit of the 

 insects that resort thither ; as they are wholly carni- 

 vorous. Many of the foreign species attain a large 

 size, and are marked with scarlet, black, and other 

 colours in contrasts. They all diffuse a peculiar 

 rank odour, and are insufferably nauseous if taken 

 into the mouth, as the smaller kinds often are, in 

 incautiously eating fruit. The Bed-bug (C. Lectu- 

 larius) is, unfortunately, an example of the tribe, 

 but too familiar, from its nocturnal attacks on man. 



* "Hptirus, hemisys, half, and vrigov, pteron, a wing. 

 t Its Latin name. 



