HEMIPTERA. 137 
Lucy. What ! are the wings only 
half the right length for a wing ? 
Mother, Wings, my dear, are of no 
particular length ; there are as many va- 
rieties of wings as of species ; but the 
term half is used because the upper 
wings are half crustaceous, or shelly, and 
half membranaceous. Do you recollect 
the nature of the elytra in the order of 
coleoptera ? 
Lucy. Yes, they are hard, like shells, 
and they meet or join in a straight line 
down the back. 
Mother, The elytra, in this order, are 
in their texture something like vellum, 
and there is only a slight appearance of the 
ribs, which in membranaceous wings are 
so distinctly seen : the elytra do not meet 
in a straight line, but lap over each other 
in a sloping direction ; and in all the 
genera, the mouth, and the proboscis, or 
trunk, are bent inwards towards the 
breast. 
The first genus we shall notice is the 
