364 ZOOLOGY 



other insects, though they occasionally attack other animals. 

 Several species, as Opsicoetus {Reduvius) personaius, attack the 

 bed-bug. 



Family Tikgitidae. — The members of this famUy are for 

 the most part small ; they are found in considerable numbers 

 on leaves and shrubs ; their appearance is very characteristic. 

 The anterior wings have the appearance of a network, and 

 processes resembling them project from the sides of the thorax. 

 The proboscis and antennae each have four joints. 



Family Acanthiidae. — The family includes Acanthia 

 lectularia, the bed-bug, a flat oval insect devoid of wings. The 

 proboscis has three joints, the antennae four. It is very ten- 

 acious of life. Many species of the same genus live upon 

 birds. 



Family Capsidae. — A very numerous family, whose mem- 

 bers are active both in running and flying. They are mostly 

 of a medium size, oval in outline, and convex. Their body is 

 usually soft. Many of them are frequently found in fruit. 



Family Pentatomidae. — In this family the scutellum is 

 very large, often equalling in size the area of the abdomen. 

 It is a large family, the members of which are brightly coloured. 

 They are often found on shrubs, and live on caterpillars or 

 leaves. 



Sub-order 2. Homoptera. 



Characteristics. — Both pairs of wiings alike ; when at rest they 

 lie flat, uTvfolded, overlapping one another. The wings are 

 often absent. The head is usually continuous with the pro- 

 thorax, so that there is no necJc. 



This group contains a number of species very diverse in 

 their structure, and often with extremely complicated life- 

 histories, in which parthenogenesis and " alternation of genera- 

 tions " play a great part. 



Family Cicadidae (Cicadas). — These insects are well known 

 from the chirping noise they keep up. They are usually of 

 large size, with an extraordinarily broad head fused on to the 

 prothorax, with two large eyes at the angles, and three ocelli. 

 The anterior wings are larger than the posterior. The male is 

 provided with a kind of drum on the under side of the base of 



