THE REYNCKOTA. 



103 



most brilliant of insects. The number of known species is hard to estimate, but it is probably not 

 less than 18,000. 



From the descriptions of palaeontologists it would appear that the Rhynchota are of great 

 antiquity in the history of the world. Three species have been recorded from the Carboniferous 

 formation, two of them being regarded as most nearly resembling the existing Fulgoridae, or Lantern 

 Flies. The Lias of Schambelen has furnished Prof. Heer with several fossil species belonging to this 

 order, and representing both the principal groups into which the typical forms ace divided ; while the 

 rich deposits of Solenhofen (Upper Oolite) contain a still larger number of species, some of them of 

 considerable size. In England also the Lower Lias has furnished remains of Rhynchota, but none 

 seem to have occurred in the Stonesfield Slate, or elsewhere in the English Oolites, until we come 

 to the uppermost or Purbeck beds, in which such insects are tolerably numerous, and represent 

 several existing families. It is as usual in the Tertiary beds that the traces of this order become 

 most numerous, and in the deposits of (Eningen and Radoboj, so admirably worked out by Prof. 

 Heer, the majority of the existing families are represented by more or less well-preserved examples. 



The parasitic Pediculidae (the Sucking Lice), which we place as degraded forms of this order, 

 differ from the rest in so many important characters, but especially in the soft, fleshy, and retractile 

 nature of their rostrum and the complete absence of wings, that we may fairly regard them as 

 constituting a distinct sub-order, for which the name of PEDICULINA can be adopted. The remainder, 

 or the typical Rhynchota, with very few exceptions, all possess the jointed rostrum above described 

 as generally characteristic of the order, and in the exceptional cases this organ is altogether 

 suppressed and not transformed into a fleshy sucker. These insects, however, may be divided into 

 two groups, which are generally distinguished with facility by the structure of the fore wings. In one 

 of them, including the numerous species of Bugs, the anterior wings almost invariably consist of two 

 distinct parts, namely, a basal division, which is usually horny or leathery, and an apical part, which 

 is more or less membranous. Hence the organs are commonly known as Hemelytra, and the sub-order 

 is called HETEROPTERA. The membranous parts of the two wings, which are only occasionally absent, 

 cross over one another at the apex of the body. The 

 true wings are folded up beneath these hemelytra when 

 closed. In the great majority of the species the rostrum 

 originates at or towards the front of the head, and this 

 character will serve to show the affinities of those species 

 in which the wings are rudimentary or imperfectly 

 developed. In the second sub-order the fore wings are 

 of the same consistence throughout, or at any rate do not 

 show that distinct division into two parts which is charac- 

 teristic of the Heteroptera generally ; hence they are 

 called HOMOPTERA. The fore wings may be horny or 

 leathery ; the hind wings are membranous, and generally 

 smaller than the anterior pair. The latter generally do 

 not cross each other at the apex when closed, but they 

 are almost always placed upon the sides of the body in a 

 sloping direction, meeting along the middle line in the 

 form of a roof, whereas in the Heteroptera the closed wings generally lie flat upon the upper surface 

 of the body. The two sub-orders further differ in the position of the rostrum, the face in the 

 Homoptera being turned downwards, so that its true apex is brought into close contact with the 

 sternum, and it is from this point that the jointed rostrum springs. Among the Heteroptera a some- 

 what similar arrangement occurs only in one family (Notonectidse). The Heteroptera are regarded 

 as the highest of the three groups, followed by the Homoptera, while the Pediculina constitute a 

 somewhat aberrant series, although included by some entomologists under the Homoptera. 



SUB-ORDER I. HETEROPTERA, OR BUGS. 



The characters distinguishing this group have already been sufficiently indicated for general 

 purposes, but a few further details are necessary. The fore wings generally form protective coverings 



A, PEN7ATOMA DISSIMILE J B, UNDER SIDE OF HEAD 

 AND ROSTRUM. 



o, Corium ;6. Clavus; c, Membrane; d. Tubercles for the 

 Antennae. 



