Hemiptera of Connecticut, 



INTRODUCTION. 



The name of this order — Hemiptera — comes from the Greek, 

 hemi, meaning half, and pteron, a wing, on account of the basal 

 half of the wing being thickened, in many species, with the 

 terminal half transparent and membranous. 



The order Hemiptera of the early works on classification, and as 

 considered by the earlier entomologists, included practically all 

 of those insects with sucking mouthparts, having incomplete trans- 

 formations. Forms of great diversity and even greater habits 

 were thus brought together in one order. Some modern writers 

 now make three orders in place of one, namely, Parasitica, 

 Homoptera and Hemiptera. 



In these Bulletins of the State Geological and Natural History 

 Survey, it was deemed best not to complicate the classification 

 features to such an extent as to discourage teachers and pupils 

 who are expected to make much use of these publications. Ento- 

 mologists will understand, I think, that the old arrangement is given 

 in this publication for the sake of simplicity and because the 

 order Hemiptera in the key to orders in Bulletin No. 16, page 34, 

 included all its subdivisions, and not because the present writer 

 claims to be an authority on classification. 



Geologically, the evidence seems to show that the Hemiptera 

 date from the Paleozoic age, and that probably the Homoptera 

 appeared at an earlier date than the Heteroptera. As regards 

 other orders of insects, both the Odonata (dragonflies) and the 

 Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) are older than the 

 Hemiptera. 



All species of the Hemiptera {sensu latior) have mouthparts 

 fitted for sucking their food. 



All species have incomplete transformations. There is no true 

 pupa stage, though in the families Psyllidae, Aleyrodidae, and in 

 the males of Coccidae, there is something most nearly approaching 

 it. With most families the nymphs hatching from the eggs grad- 

 ually increase in size and change slightly in passing through their 

 molting stages until they reach the adult form. 



Most of the scale insects, or Coccidae, Aleyrodidae and part 

 of the Psyllidae, are non-motile during the greater portion of 

 their lives and are fixed upon their food plants. Galls are formed 

 by some of the Psyllids, particularly those occurring on hackberry, 

 and by some of the aphids. 



