RHYNCHOTA. 



189 



SHIELD BUGS. 



mostly inhabit the warmer parts of the world, not more than about sixty species being 

 found in Europe. Their habits are not very well known. Some of the European 

 species live during the winter under leaves, and when disturbed in their retreat 

 make by their movements a peculiar rustling sound. In summer they are to be 

 found among herbs and 

 shrubs seeking their 

 food, or they may some- 

 times be seen flying 

 actively in the sunshine. 

 Our figures — one repre- 

 senting a stout, strongly- 

 built insect (Syromastes 

 inarginatus), the other 

 a species {Neides tipu- 

 larius) with a body as 

 slender almost as that of 

 a daddy long - legs — 

 illustrate what consider- 

 able differences of form 

 are met with in this 

 family, even among the 

 common European 

 species. The Lygceidce, 

 the next family of land- 

 bugs, may be character- 

 ised as follows, — antennae four-jointed, arising from below an imaginary line drawn 

 from the middle of the eye to the base of the rostrum ; two ocelli usually present, 

 and placed close to the compound eyes ; sheath of rostrum composed of four nearly 



equal joints; scutellum short 

 and triangular; membrane of 

 elytra traversed by four or five 

 longitudinal veins. They live, 

 for the most part, under stones, 

 dead leaves, or moss at the foot 

 of trees, where they are often 

 found together in large num- 

 bers ; and it is from their love 

 of such obscure places that the 

 name Lygcews has been given 

 to the typical genus. They 

 feed on the juices of plants or 

 the dead bodies of other insects. 

 A few species only show them- 

 selves in broad daylight. The species of the genus Pyrrhocoris, and others 

 associated in the same subfamily, are distinguished by the fact that they have 

 no ocelli. P. apterus is a common and widely-spread European species, occasionally 



1, Pentatoma rufipes ; 2, Acanthosoma dentation ; 3, Eurydema oleraceum ; 

 4, Aelia acuminata (nat. size). 



1, Syromastes marginatus ; 2, Larva of the same ; 3, Neides 

 tipularius (nat size). 



