Diactor bilincdtu* 



WATER-SCORPION. Nepa cinrrea. 

 Hammatocerus conspillaris. 



Daladcr acuticcsta. 



The next section of the Heteroptera includes insects which are mostly terrestrial, 

 though some are fond of haunting the surface of water. The Hydrometridae are well- 

 known examples of the latter insects, and are popularly known by the name of Water- 

 fleas. The common Gerris skims over the surface with wonderful rapidity, wheeling 

 and turning as easily as a skater performing his manoeuvres on the smooth ice. But the 

 Hydrometra, a very slender creature, hardly thicker than a needle, and bearing a great 

 resemblance to the walking-stick insect already described, glides slowly over the surface, 

 mostly keeping among the aquatic plants at the margin, and passing silently as a shadow 

 over the water. Silent and quiet as it looks, it is a terrible foe to the smaller insects, 

 even making short excursions ashore for the purpose of seeking prey. I have seen one of 

 these insects making its way back to the water, holding aloft in its fore-legs an unhappy 

 fly which it had captured, and which it was bearing off in triumph. These insects are 

 able to fly, and I have found specimens of the Gerris concealed under stones at the top 

 of hills far distant from water. 



The family of the Cimicidse contains only one insect, the too common BED-BUG, a 

 creature which is supposed to have been imported into England from America. This 

 odoriferous, flat-bodied, rust-coloured insect has derived its very appropriate name from 

 the old English word bugge, signifying a nocturnal spectre, and used in that sense by the 

 old writers. These creatures are enabled, by means of their flat bodies, to creep into the 

 smallest crevices ; and when they have once taken possession of a room, can be with 

 difficulty extirpated. A very effectual method of destroying them is to close all apertures 

 in the room, and place in it a brazier with lighted charcoal and a quantity of sulphur. 

 The living insects will be killed by the fumes, and though the eggs will escape, yet a 

 second fumigation will mostly destroy the young that issue from them. All places where 

 they have been should be carefully washed, and all crevices filled up with cement or any 

 substance which Mdll exclude the air. 



The Reduviida? comprise a great number of terrestrial insects, mostly exotic, but a few 

 being natives of our country. Some of them are very large, and one species, the WHEEL- 

 BUG (Arilns serratus), is said to possess electric powers Its popular name is derived 



