CHAPTER XII. 



th^ater-bxJgs or water-measUrers, 



'BirATER-SCORPIOrlS, ETC. 



IJNSECTS are said to have a complete metamorpliosis 

 when their pupal, nymphal, or chrysalis condition 

 is quiescent. For example, the larvae of beetles 

 are active and voracious; but when they become pupse they 

 pass their time without either moving or eating, until they 

 arrive at the imago or perfect state. The Coleoptera have, 

 therefore, a complete metamorphosis. But as the Heteropterous 

 insects change very little, apparently, except in size, during 

 their lifetime, and as they are always more or less active 

 and ravenous, they are said to pass through an incomplete 

 metamorphosis. 



The Heteroptera, or Bugs, as they are not very euphoniously 

 called, have beaks or rostra, and by means of these they are 

 able to suck the juices which form their food. The holes, 

 whether in the plant or in the animal, through which this 

 liquid nutriment is extracted, are made by four very sharply- 

 pointed bristle-like members which are inclosed within the 

 rostrum. 



These insects are divided into the two tribes, Geooorisce 

 and SydrocorisoB. The members of the former are chiefly 

 distinguished by the possession of long antennse and three- 

 pointed tarsi from those of the latter, which have antennse 

 hidden in a groove beneath the eyes, and two-jointed tarsi. 



