of the abdominal pleura) which when pressed together form a tube whose point can pierce the surface film and convey air to the hindmost spiracles which are alone functional in the adult. The Notonectidae breathe mostly through the thoracic spiracles; the air is conveyed to these from the tail-end, which is brought to the surface, along a kind of tunnel formed by overlapping hairs.
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| After Carpenter, Proc. R. Dublin Soc., vol. viii. | Fig. 6.—Water-scorpion (Nepa cinerea) with raptorial fore-legs, heteropterous wings, and long siphon for conveying air to spiracles. Somewhat magnified. sc, scutellum; co, cl, m, corium, clavus and membrane of forewing. |
| Fig. 5.—A reef-haunting hemipteron (Hermatobates haddonii) with excessively reduced abdomen. Magnified. | |
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| From Marlatt, Bull. 14 (N.S.) Div. Ent. U.S. Dept. Agr. | |
| Fig. 7. | |
a, Body of male Cicad from below, showing cover-plates of musical organs;
b, From above showing drums, natural size; |
c, Section showing muscles which vibrate drum (magnified);
d, A drum at rest;
e, Thrown into vibration, more highly magnified. |
Sound-producing Organs.—The Hemiptera are remarkable for the variety of their stridulating organs. In many genera of the Pentatomidae, bristle-bearing tubercles on the legs are scraped across a set of fine striations on the abdominal sterna. In Halobates a comb-like series of sharp spines on the fore-shin can be drawn across a set of blunt processes on the shin of the opposite leg. Males of the little water-bugs of the genus Corixa make a shrill chirping note by drawing a row of teeth on the flattened fore-foot across a group of spines on the haunch of the opposite leg. But the loudest and most remarkable vocal organs of all insects are those of the male cicads, which “sing” by the rapid vibration of a pair of “drums” or membranes within the metathorax. These drums are worked by special muscles, and the cavities in which they lie are protected by conspicuous plates visible beneath the base of the abdomen (see fig. 7).
Fossil History.—The Heteroptera can be traced back farther than any other winged insects if the fossil Protocimex silurica Moberg, from the Ordovician slates of Sweden is rightly regarded as the wing of a bug. But according to the recent researches of A. Handlirsch it is not insectan at all. Both Heteropterous and Homopterous genera have been described from the Carboniferous, but the true nature of some of these is doubtful. Eugereon is a remarkable Permian fossil, with jaws that are typically hemipterous except that the second maxillae are not fused and with cockroach-like wings. In the Jurassic period many of the existing families, such as the Cicadidae, Fulgoridae, Aphidae, Nepidae, Reduviidae, Hydrometridae, Lygaeidae and Coreidae, had already become differentiated.
Classification.—The number of described species of Hemiptera must now be nearly 20,000. The order is divided into two sub-orders, the Heteroptera and the Homoptera. The Anoplura or lice should not be included among the Hemiptera, but it has been thought convenient to refer briefly to them at the close of this article.
Heteroptera
In this sub-order are included the various families of bugs and their aquatic relations. The front of the head is not in contact with the haunches of the fore-legs. There is usually a marked difference between the wings of the two pairs. The fore-wing is generally divided into a firm coriaceous basal region, occupying most of the area, and a membranous terminal portion, while the hind-wing is delicate and entirely membranous (see fig. 6). In the firm portion of the fore-wing two distinct regions can usually be distinguished; most of the area is formed by the corium (fig. 6, co), which is separated by a longitudinal suture from the clavus (fig. 6, cl) on its hinder edge, and in some families there is also a cuneus (fig. 9 cu) external to and an embolium in front of the corium.
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| After Marlatt, Bull. 4 (N.S.) Div. Ent. U.S. Dept. Agr. | |
| Fig. 8.—Bed-bug (Cimex lectularius, Linn.). | |
a, Female from above; |
d, Jaws, very highly magnified (tips of mandibles and 1st maxillae still more highly magnified). |
Most Heteroptera are flattened in form, and the wings lie flat, or nearly so, when closed. The young Heteropteron is hatched from the egg in a form not markedly different from that of its parent; it is active and takes food through all the stages of its growth. It is usual to divide the Heteroptera into two tribes—the Gymnocerata and the Cryptocerata.
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| After M. V. Slingerland, Cornell Univ. Ent. Bull. 58. |
| Fig. 9.—Capsid Leaf-bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus) N. America. Magnified—, cu cuneus. |
Gymnocerata.—This tribe includes some eighteen families of terrestrial, arboreal and marsh-haunting bugs, as well as those aquatic Heteroptera that live on the surface-film of water. The feelers are elongate and conspicuous. The Pentatomidae (shield-bugs), some of which are metallic or otherwise brightly coloured, are easily recognized by the great development of the scutellum, which reaches at least half-way back towards the tip of the abdomen, and in some genera covers the whole of the hind body, and also the wings when these are closed. The Coreidae have a smaller scutellum, and the feelers are inserted high on the head, while in the Lygaeidae they are inserted lower down. These three families have the foot with three segments. In the curious little Tingidae, whose integuments exhibit a pattern of network-like ridges, the feet are two-segmented and the scutellum is hidden by the pronotum. The Aradidae have two segmented feet, and a large visible scutellum. The Hydrometridae are a large family including the pond-skaters and other dwellers on the surface-film of fresh water, as well as the remarkable oceanic genus Halobates already referred to. The Reduviidae are
