CHAPTER VIII 



HEMIPTEKA OK BUGS 



Order IX. Hemiptera. 



Mouth consisting of a proboscis or mobile beak {usually concealed 

 by being bent under the body), ccppearing as a transversly- 

 jointed rod or grooved sheath, in luhich are enclosed long 

 slender setae (like horse-hairs). Wings {nearly always) four ; 

 the anterior freq%iently more horny than the posterior pccir, 

 and folding flat on the back, their apiiccd p)ortions vsiudly 

 more membranous than the base (Heteroptera) ; or the four 

 wings may cover the cdidomen in a roof-like 7nan7ier, and 

 those of the anterior pair may 7iot have the based and apical 

 2}arts of different consistences (Homoptera) ; sometimes cdl 

 four of the wings are transparent. The young resembles the 

 adult in general form ; the wings are developed oiitside the 

 body, by groioth, at the moults, of the sides of the hinder por- 

 tions of the meso- and meta-notum ; the metanotcd prolonga- 

 tions being more or less concecded by the mesonotcd. 



The Hemiptera or Bugs are perhaps more widely known as 

 Ehynchota. In deciding whether an Insect belongs to this 

 Order the student will do well to examine in the first place 

 the beak, treating the wings as subordinate in importance, their 

 condition being much more variable than that of the beak. The 

 above definition includes no reference to the degraded Anoplura 

 or Lice. These are separately dealt with on p. 599 ; they are 

 absolutely wingless, and have an unjointed proboscis not placed 

 beneath the body, the greater part of it being usually withdrawn 

 inside the body of the Insect. 



The Hemiptera are without exception sucking Insects, and 



