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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:heteroptera:4578db7e6bb4",
    "title": "HETEROPTERA",
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    "verified_text": "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_. [illustration: after marlatt, _bull._ 4 (n.s.) _div. ent. u.s. dept. agr._ fig. 8.--bed-bug (_cimex lectularius_, linn.). a, female from above; b, from beneath; c, vestigial wing; 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. _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 a family of predaceous bugs that attack other insects and suck their juices; the beak is short, and carried under the head in a hook-like curve, not--as in the preceding families--lying close against the breast. the _cimicidae_ have the feet three-segmented and the forewings greatly reduced; most of the species are parasites on birds and bats, but one--_cimex lectidarius_ (figs. 3, 8)--is the well-known \"bed-bug\" which abounds in unclean dwellings and sucks human blood (see bug). the _anthocoridae_ are nearly related to the _cimicidae_, but the wings are usually well developed and the forewing possesses cuneus and embolium as well as corium and clavus. the _capsidae_ are a large family of rather soft-skinned bugs mostly elongate in form with the two basal segments of the feelers stouter than the two terminal. the forewing in this family has a cuneus (fig. 9 cu), but not an embolium. these insects are often found in large numbers on plants whose juices they suck. [illustration: after m. v. slingerland, _cornell univ. ent. bull._ 58. fig. 9.--capsid leaf-bug (_poecilocapsus lineatus_) n. america. magnified--, cu cuneus.] [illustration: from mariatt, _bull._ 14 (n. s.), _div. ent. u.s. dept. agr._ fig. 10.--a, nymph (4th stage) of cicad, magnified; c, d, inner and outer faces of front leg, magnified--; b, teeth on thigh, more highly magnified.] _cryptocerata._--in this tribe are included five or six families of aquatic heteroptera which spend the greater part of their lives submerged, diving and swimming through the water. the feelers are very small and are often hidden in cavities beneath the head. the _naucoridae_ and _belostomatidae_ are flattened insects, with four-segmented feelers and fore-legs inserted at the front of the prosternum. two species of the former family inhabit our islands, but the _belostomatidae_ are found only in the warmer regions of the globe; some of them, attaining a length of 4 to 5 in., are giants among insects. the _nepidae_ (fig. 6) or water-scorpions (q.v.)--two british species--are distinguished by their three-segmented feelers, their raptorial fore-legs (in which the shin and foot, fused together, work like a sharp knife-blade on the grooved thigh), and their elongate tail-processes formed of the abdominal pleura and used for respiration. the _notonectidae_, or \"water-boatmen\" (q.v.) have convex ovoid bodies admirably adapted for aquatic life. by means of the oar-like hind-legs they swim actively through the water with the ventral surface upwards; the fore-legs are inserted at the hinder edge of the prosternum. the _corixidae_ are small flattened water-bugs, with very short unjointed beak, the labrum being enclosed within the second maxillae, and the foot in the fore and intermediate leg having but a single segment. the hinder abdominal segments in the male show a curious asymmetrical arrangement, the sixth segment bearing on its upper side a small stalked plate (_strigil_) of unknown function, furnished with rows of teeth. on account of the reduction and modification of the jaws in the _corixidae_, c. borner has lately suggested that they should form a special sub-order of hemiptera--the sandaliorrhyncha.",
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