HEMIPTERA. II7 



The soldier bug is yellowish as to body color ; the legs 

 and antenna are banded with fine black bands. These 

 insect enemies of the chinch bug are to be valued, especially 

 when it is remembered that the pest belongs to a group 

 of insects one of whose effective means of protection is a 

 disagreeable odor which usually protects them from their 

 enemies. 



Fig. 49. Fig. 50. 



Fig. 49. — Soldier bug, MUyas cinetus. (Howard, after Riley.) 

 Fig. 50. — ^An assassin bug, Reduvius personatus. (Howard.) 



The assassin bugs, as their name indicates, are 

 predaceous, hence helpful to man. But one of these 

 insects has a name less indicative of commendable habits ; 

 it is sometimes called the kissing bug in newspaper par- 

 lance, as it has the occasional habit of piercing the skin of 

 human beings. In this case the saliva injected into the 

 wound made by the stylets is, to say the least, irritating 

 to the human victim if its effects are not more 

 disagreeable. 



