CHAPTER XXII 



BEDBUGS AND THEIR ALLIES 



The Order Hemiptera. — The order of insects, Hemiptera (or 

 Rhynchota), which inchides the true bugs, contains a number 

 of species which habitually or occasionally attack man. The 

 most important of these are the bedbugs, which are found all 

 over the world in temperate and tropical climates. There are 

 few objects which are more disgusting than bedbugs to good 

 housekeepers, yet there are few who, at one time or another, 

 have not had to contend with them or at least guard against 

 them. Belonging to an allied family are the cone-noses, larger 

 than bedbugs and not devoid of wings, fiercer in disposition and 

 capable of producing much more painful bites. A considerable 



number of species of these bugs 



are known and are found in all 



warm countries. The relation of 



bugs to disease is still ver}^ im- 



Fia. 162. A heniipteran wing perfectly known, but these para- 



^ ^ "^" sites are positively known to 



transmit at least one important disease, and are suspected of 



transmitting several others. 



The true bugs, order Hemiptera, are characterized by having 

 piercing and sucking mouthparts contained in a jointed beak 

 and by an incomplete metamorphosis, i.e., not undergoing a 

 complete transformation from a larval to an adult form during a 

 period of rest, as do such insects as butterflies, beetles, etc. The 

 newly hatched young may differ quite considerably from the 

 adult, but the mature characteristics are gradually attained with 

 each successive moult. The order is divided into two suborders, 

 only one of which, the Heteroptera, concerns us here. In tiie 

 members of this group the first pair of wings, if present, have a 

 thickened, leathery basal portion and a membranous terminal 

 portion (Fig. 1G2). The second pair of wings are always mem- 

 branous when present. 



370 



