The upper lip, or labrum, is much reduced and immovable, the lower lip, or labium, is elongated to form a jointed sheath, within which the lance-like mandibles and maxillæ are enclosed. The mandibles are more or less deeply serrate, depending on the species concerned.
The poison is elaborated by the salivary glands, excepting, possibly, in Belostoma where Locy is inclined to believe that it is secreted by the maxillary glands. The salivary glands of the Hemiptera have been the subject of much study but the most recent, comprehensive work has been done by Bugnion and Popoff, (1908 and 1910) to whose text the reader is referred for details.
The Hemiptera have two pairs of salivary glands: the primary gland, of which the efferent duct leads to the salivary syringe, and the accessory gland, of which the very long and flexuous duct empties into the primary duct at its point of insertion. Thus, when one observes the isolated primary gland it appears as though it had efferent ducts inserted at the same point. In Nepa and the Fulgoridæ there are two accessory glands and therefore apparently three ducts at the same point on the primary gland. The ensemble differs greatly in appearance in different species but we shall show here Bugnion and Popoff's figure of the apparatus of Notonecta maculata, a species capable of inflicting a painful bite on man ([fig. 17]).