Assassin Bugs 



bugs," Reduvius personatus, is a cosmopolitan form which, in the 

 northern states, is found in basements and cellars of dirty houses 

 and preys upon bed-bugs and cockroaches. When immature 



it covers itself with dust and presents 

 a very odd appearance. 



Some very odd species are found 

 in the subfamily Emesidce, which 

 have been called "thread-legged 

 bugs." Their legs are excessively 

 long and they have a peculiar habit 

 of swinging the body up and down. 

 One of them frequents spiders' webs 

 and robs the spiders of their prey. 

 The eggs of nearly all Reduviids 

 are of very strange appearance and 

 are frequently distinguished by some 

 form of protective resemblance. 

 None of these predatory bugs seem 

 to possess the strong and frequently 

 disagreeable odor so characteristic of many of the plant bugs. 



Fig. 182. — Rasahus biguttatus. 

 (Author's illustration.) 



Life History of the Wheel Bug 



(Arilns cristatus "L.J 



This is a large predatory bug common all through our 

 southern states and Mexico and which extends up into southern 



f 



Fig. 183. — Melanolestes abdominalis. 

 (Author's illustration.) 



Fig. 184. — Milyas cinctus. 

 (After Riley.) 



294 



