ORDER VII. HEMIPTERA. — CICADAS. 303 
Hyprometra (from huddr, water, and metre’n, to measure). — These 
insects have linear bodies; the head, which forms nearly a third of the 
entire length, is furnished with two long antennw, and armed with a thin, 
hair-like beak. The legs are long, and of equal length. 
II. Stagnorum. — The body and legs of this species are of a ferruginous 
color, the hemelytra a dull brown, and the wings hyaline, or glassy, and 
slightly blackish. Geoffrey says that it resembles a long needle, and calls 
it the Needle Bug. The reader may have often seen the Stagnorwm walk- 
ing by jerks on the surface of the water in a manner not unlike the move- 
ments of skaters. 
The second family of the //eteroptera is composed of the Water Bugs. 
These insects have the antennz inserted beneath the eyes, by which they are 
concealed, being shorter than the head. They are all aquatic and carnivo- 
rous, seizing other insects with their fore legs. Their proboscis is sharp, 
and is a powerful weapon; their eyes are of remarkable size. They com- 
pose the two genera— Nepa (Water Scorpions), and WVotonecta (DBoat- 
men). 
The second section of the Hemiptera (Homorrera) differs considerably 
from the foregoing. The proboscis arises from between the two fore feet. 
The wing-covers are roof-like, semi-membranous, and throughout of the 
same consistence. All the insects of this section feed entirely on the fluid 
of vegetables. They are divided into three families — Cicadariv, Aphidii, 
and G'allinsecta. 
Crcapa. — The animals comprised in this group have transparent wine- 
covers, and veined. The species are numerous, especially in the warmer 
regions of the globe, where the males fill the air with their noisy music. 
Some are adorned with brilliant hues, while others are destitute of color. 
Their song is monotonous and disagreeable, and yet the ancient Greeks 
revered the insect as the most mellifluous of singers, and poets and _philos- 
ophers united in celebrating its musical qualities. It was with them a 
symbol of nobility, and Cicadas of gold ornamented the hair of those who 
laid claim to high birth. 
The musical apparatus of the Cicada is somewhat remarkable, and we 
are indebted to a French naturalist (Réaumur) for the discovery of its 
exact mechanism. He shows us that it is not in the throat that the Cicada’s 
organ of sound is placed, but on the abdomen. “On examining the abdo- 
men of the male of a large species of Cicada one remarks on it two horny 
plates, of pretty good size, which are not found on the females; each plate 
has one side straight; the rest of its outline is rounded. It is by tie side 
which is rectilinear that the plate is fixed immediately underneath the third 
pair of legs. It can be slightly raised with an effort by two spine-like 
