The True Bugs have their fore wings of a horny texture, but generally overlapping, and the extremities form a transparent membrane, resembling that of the hind wings. They have a long sucking-proboscis curved down beneath their bodies, and their antennæ usually consist of only four or five long joints. Most are vegetable-feeders, but some species feed on the juices of other insects, while a few attack warm-blooded animals, either casually or habitually.
The first family includes the Shield-bugs. These derive their name from the unusual development of a part of the thorax called the "scutellum." In most insects it is only a small plate of no great importance, attached to the end of the thorax; but in the Shield-bugs it forms a great solid arch, covering the whole of the wings, and protecting them as the wing-cases protect the wings of beetles. There are only a few small species in England, but a great number of beautiful species inhabit warm countries, some of a brilliant blue or green or yellow, or spotted. Many of them are comparatively large insects, nearly an inch long, and resemble brilliantly coloured beetles, from which, however, they can easily be distinguished by the antennæ, the proboscis, and the shield, the latter of which is not divided down the middle like the wing-cases of beetles.
Photo by J. Edwards] [Colesborne.
LACE-WING BUG.
An elegant little insect, injurious to pear-trees.
Next to the Shield-bugs, and considered by many entomologists as belonging to the same group, are the Pentagonal Shield-bugs, so called because the scutellum, though much smaller than in the Shield-bugs, is often half as long as the abdomen, and forms a broad triangle, sometimes broken at the sides, so as to make a five-sided plate, lying above the bases of the wings. Several green or brown species of this family, about half an inch long, are common in England among bushes. Many have a very disagreeable smell, and hence they are called Stink-bugs in America. They feed on vegetable juices, and also frequently on soft-bodied insects. Several species (chiefly foreign) among the Shield-bugs and the present group have a strong spine, or else a blunt protuberance, projecting from each shoulder.
The remaining plant-bugs are much more numerous—at least in England—than those already mentioned, and form several families, which cannot be noticed in detail. Many species are rather small and delicate creatures, narrower and softer than the Shield-bugs and Pentagonal Shield-bugs, and are adorned with various colours, black and red predominating. Some have more transparent wings than the others, such as the beautiful little Lace-winged Bugs, one species of which is often very destructive to pear-trees.
The Bed-bug is a reddish-brown, somewhat oval insect, common in many old houses, hiding in cracks and crevices in walls and woodwork, and coming out at night to suck the blood of sleepers with its sharp proboscis. There are allied species, sometimes found in hen-houses, pigeon-houses, and places where bats congregate. The bed-bug has only been known in England for a few centuries, and though now a great pest in all parts of the world, was probably a native of Africa originally.
The bed-bug, notwithstanding its offensive odour, is preyed upon by several other insects, among which are the common cockroach and the Masked Bug. The latter is a black-winged bug about three-quarters of an inch long, and remarkable for the habits of its larva, which conceals itself with dust or fluff, so that it may steal upon its prey unobserved. The masked bug and its larva feed on soft-bodied insects of various kinds, and are more frequently found in outhouses than in dwelling-rooms. This bug occasionally attacks warm-blooded animals; and a short time ago a great deal of nonsense was published in the newspapers about a mysterious insect-pest in North America, called the Kissing-bug, which seems to have been nothing more unusual than this insect. There are, however, some much larger species belonging to the same family, which are formidable pests in the Southern States of North America, Chili, and various other countries.