THE WHEEL-BUG. 55: 



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

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

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

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

 and turning as easily as a skater performing his manreuvres 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 ott 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. 



Dlactor blllacatus. 



WATER-SCORPION. -Nepa clnerea. 



Hammatocerus coaspillarls. 



Dalader acutlcosta. 



The family of the Cimicidae 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-colored 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 will exclude the air. 



The Reduviidae 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 (Arilus serratus), is said to possess electric powers. Its popular name is derived 



