7020 Insects. 



edition of the first. This last is the better course : let one mark out 

 the ground, the others erect the building ; above all things let us 

 proceed, as Mr. Doubleday has done with the Lepidoplera, and ascer- 

 tain what has been done on the continent of Europe. 



But while negociations are pending, and without any idea of the 

 views which either of our friends entertain of the methodical arrange- 

 ment of these said Hemiptera, or, in common parlance, bugs, 1 beg 

 to invite the attention of my younger readers to a simple mode of 

 classification. All the Hemiptera may be divided by very simple 

 and natural characters into four principal groups, from which I totally 

 exclude the Aphides, and the curious genus Aleyrodes, which is not 

 allied in any way by metamoiphosis with the other Hemiptera, and 

 also the still more extraordinary family of Thripsidae, comprising those 

 mischievous little insects which nibble the purple petals of our Fuchsias, 

 and entirely spoil their appearance. These and a few more odds and 

 ends, together with one half of what I shall presently call the " short 

 horns," are generally associated together under the name of Homoptera. 

 For this droll association no entomologist has clearly explained the 

 the reason, and should ray young readers try to comprehend it 1 pro- 

 mise them they will not succeed. 



The first thing to observe in a Heraipterous insect is the character 

 of the antennae ; if they are long, jointed, capable of motion, and very 

 plainly to be seen, the insect belongs to the division which I propose 

 to call " long horns," but if they are very short, without apparent 

 joints, incapable of motion, and very difficult to find out, then the insect 

 belongs to the division which 1 shall call " short horns : " this kind 

 of antenna may be called the ball and bristle antenna ; it generally 

 consists of one small round joint, and one very fine, small, short, 

 bristle sticking out of it ; neither the ball nor the bristle are to be seen 

 without a magnifying glass, and the insects really look as though they 

 had no antennae at all, because their antennao are almost entirely con- 

 cealed in a groove or cavity close to the eyes. 



Next we will divide the " long horns ; " some run about the trees 

 and shrubs and herbs, and feed principally, but not entirely, on the sap 

 of plants, and others run ou the surface of water, and feed on minute 

 insects. The first T propose to call " plant bugs," the second " water 

 walkers." The " plant bugs " are really and certainly the true bugs, 

 Cimicina, and to this group properly belongs the bed bug {Acanthia 

 lectularia), which I believe in its native country is a plant or timber- 

 sucking insect ; but, transplanted into a London atmosphere, it forsakes 

 that cooling diet, and ceases entirely to be a vegetarian. Almost every 



