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INSECTS. 



Land-Bugs. 



Bugs are divided into two tribes, based upon their mode of exist- 

 ence, and the fact that in one tribe — the land-bugs, or Gcocorisa — 

 the antennas project, and are distinctly visible, while in the other — the water- 

 bugs, or Hydrocorisa — they are very short, and hidden below the eyes. The shield- 

 bugs (Pentatomatidas), which constitute one of the largest families of the Geocorisa, 

 are so called on account of their large scutellum, which reaches at least to the 

 middle of the abdomen, and sometimes quite to its extremity, covering it over 

 completely. The fore-wings are sometimes chitinised only near the basal margin, 

 especially in those species with a very large scutellum. The body has in general 

 an elliptical outline, or is shaped like a scutcheon, owing to the projecting lateral 

 angles of the somewhat hexagonal pronotum. These bugs are mostly found on low 

 plants, some in concealment, many showing themselves openly, and often attracting 

 observation by their striking colours. The adults pass the winter sheltered under 

 bark or dried leaves. In early spring the females lay their eggs on the foliage of 

 low plants, shrubs, and pine trees. The oval or spherical eggs are provided with 

 an operculum, or lid, and disposed in patches resembling honeycomb. The 



larvae moult several times in the course of their 

 growth, and thus gradually effect a change in 

 their form and coloration. They feed on the 

 juices of plants, or, in some cases, of animals, and 

 attain their full size towards the end of summer. 

 The European species are rather limited in number; 

 but many forms are found in other parts of the 

 world. The Hottentot bug (Eurygaster maurus) 

 is the name given to a species with a very large 

 scutellum, found throughout nearly all Europe. 

 It is of a yellow, dark brown, or black colour, 

 with two clear spots on each side of the base of 

 the scutellum. Some rather pretty bugs of the genus Scutellera, belonging to 

 the same subfamily, and characterised by a similar large scutellum, are found 

 in Australia and the Eastern Archipelago. They are of a short, broad, and 

 convex form, and have a very fine metallic-blue coloration, often spotted with 

 bright yellow. The forest -bugs (Pentatoma) have strongly projecting angles 

 to the prothorax, and have a long triangular scutellum. The species figured 

 (P. rvfipes) is common throughout Europe, on birch and other trees, and renders 

 service by destroying certain caterpillars. We figure on the opposite page three 

 other species of this family — Acanthosoma dentatum, which is common on 

 willows ; Euryclema oleraceum, a bluish green or metallic green species, with red 

 or white markings, which in some places is injurious to plants of the cabbage 

 tribe, but also lives on other plants, and has often been seen to prey upon insects : 

 and another common species met with near the outskirts of woods and in fields 

 and meadows. 



The family Coreidce includes a number of land-bugs, which vary a good deal 

 in form, but which possess in common the following characters, — antennas four- 

 jointed, set rather high up on the head ; two ocelli generally present ; scutellum 

 short and triangular ; elytral membrane strongly and thickly veined. These bugs 



Hottentot bcg (nat. size). 



