CHAPTER X 



rOND-SKATERS, WATER-SCORPIONS AND WATER- 

 BOATMEN (rhynchota) 



The order Rhynchota or Hemiptera is distinguished 

 by the absence of conspicuous transformation and by 

 the suctorial proboscis. The peculiar texture of the 

 wings indicated by the word Hemiptera — half of the 

 fore-wing being membranous, while the basal half is 

 firmer — is not found throughout the order. These 

 Insects are active, and seek their food in all stages. 

 The larvae have no wings until shortly before the 

 emergence of the imago, when, as in Dragon-flies and 

 many other Insects, stunted wing-cases appear, which 

 enclose the perfect wings of the adult. In some 

 Rhynchota, hence called Homoptera, both pairs of 

 wings are alike in texture and usually membranous. 

 In the Heteroptera the fore pair are firmer than the 

 hind pair, especially towards the base, and form 

 elytra or wing-covers, somewhat like those of Beetles. 

 To this sub-order belong a number of very common 

 aquatic Insects They are all predator)-, feeding 

 upon small Insects or Crustaceans, and, like most 

 other Heteroptera, emit a secretion of unpleasant 



