CHAPTER XV. 

 THE BUGS, OE SUCKING INSECTS. 



We now come to insects which gain their lirelihood by 

 piercing and sucking the sap of plants or the blood of other 

 insects; and the change in the jaws by which 

 <i\ /j, a sucking beak is formed is very curious. 

 \ ^y One can obtain an excellent idea of what 



ya^l^-^ a bug is by dissect- 

 n^yBlv > i^g ^ common jj f.\ 



\jH\ squash-bug (Fig. 

 ) ^ ( 105). With a lens 

 and a needle 

 FiQ. 106.— Squash- mountcd in a han- 

 "^' die, the student 



can, after a few trials, dissect the 

 head from the body, examine the 

 beak, the wings; separate the thorax 

 into its separate segments, dissect 

 the hind body or abdomen from 

 the thorax, and study these parts 

 with the aid of Fig. 105, always 

 remembering to compare each part 

 with its corresponding part in the 

 grasshopper. It will be seen that fig. 

 the bug has, besides a pair of com- 

 pound eyes, two simple eyes be- 

 hind ; and that it takes its food by 

 suction, plunging its long slender 

 beak into the stems of plants or 

 into the flesh of its victim. This beak is the distinctive 

 mark of the bugs, which thus differ from other insects in 



-Head 



bed-bug, 



showine the structure of the 

 beak, lab, the four-jointed 

 labium,whioh contains the bris- 

 tle-like mandibles (md) and 

 maxillae (mx), whose bases are 

 shown by the dotted lines in 

 the head; Ibr, labrum; ant, 

 antenna. 



