Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects. Charles V. Riley
Bugs, or Homoptera (ὁμος, equal; πτερον, wing), having all four wings of a uniform membranous nature and folding straight down the back when at rest. The latter, if separated, may be looked upon as a Suborder.
Fig. 19.—A Soldier-bug
(Milyas cinctus). b, beak enlarged.
“Transformations incomplete; i.e., the larvæ and pupæ have more or less the image of the perfect insect, and differ little from it except in lacking wings.
“The genuine or half-winged Bugs (Figs. 18 and 19) are usually flattened in form, when mature; though more rounded in the adolescent stages. They may be divided into Land Bugs (Aurocorisa) and Water Bugs (Hydrocorisa). The species of the first division very generally possess the power of emitting, when disturbed or alarmed, a nauseous, bed-buggy odor, which comes from a fluid secreted from two pores, situated on the under side of the metathorax. Such well-known insects as the Bed-bug and Chinch-bug belong here. The habits of the species are varied, and while some are beneficial, others are quite injurious to man.
Fig. 20.—A Tree-hopper
(Ceresa bubalus). a, side; b, top view.
“The Whole-winged Bugs (Figs. 20 and 21), on the contrary, are all plant-feeders, and with the exception of a few, such as the Cochineal and Lac insects, are injurious. The secretion of a white, or bluish, waxy, or farinose substance from the surface of the body is as characteristic of this section as the nauseous odor is of the first. It forms three natural divisions, arranged according to the number of joints to the tarsi—namely Trimera, with three joints; Dimera, with two joints;, and Monomera, with one joint to the tarsi.”
Fig. 21.—A Plant-louse (Schizoneura lanigera). a, infested root; b, larva; c, winged insect; d–g, parts of perfect insect enlarged.
Suborder Thysanoptera (ϑυσανος, a fringe; πτερον, wing): This suborder contains the single family Thripidæ, which comprises minute insects commonly known as Thrips, and of which a common species, Thrips striatus, is shown in the accompanying figure. (See Fig. 22.) They bear strong relations to both the Pseudoneuroptera and the Hemiptera and by later writers are generally associated with the latter order. They feed on plants, puncturing and killing the leaves, or on other plant-feeding species of their own class, and are characterized by having narrow wings crossed on the back when at rest, and beautifully fringed, from which latter feature the name of the suborder is derived.
Fig. 22.—Thrips striatus, with wings enlarged at side.
The mouth parts are peculiar in that they are intermediate in form between the sucking beak of Hemiptera and the biting mouth parts of other insects.
Their eggs resemble those of Hemiptera; the larvæ and pupæ are active, and in form resemble the adult, except in the absence of wings. Some species, also, are wingless in the adult stage.
The pupæ are somewhat sluggish and the limbs and wings are enclosed in a thin membrane which is expanded about the feet into bulbous enlargements, giving rise to the name “bladder-footed” (Physopoda) applied to these insects by Burmeister.
Fig. 23.—A Mosquito (Culex pipiens). a, adult; b, head of same enlarged; e, portion of antenna of same; f, larva; g, pupa. (After Westwood.)
“Order DIPTERA (δις, twice; πτερον, wing) or Two-winged Flies. The only order having but two wings, the hind pair replaced by a pair of small, slender filaments clubbed at tip, and called halteres, poisers, or balancers.
Fig. 24.—A Hawk-fly (Erax bastardi). a, perfect insect; b, pupa; larva shown at side.
Fig. 25.—A Flesh-fly (Sarcophaga carnaria, var. saracenæ). a, larva; b, puparium; c, adult insect with enlarged parts.
“No order surpasses this in the number of species or in the immense swarms of individuals belonging to the same species which are frequently met with. The wings, which are variously veined, though appearing naked to the unaided eye, are often thickly covered with very minute hairs or hooks. As an order the Diptera are decidedly injurious to man, whether we consider the annoyances to ourselves or our animals of the Mosquito, Buffalo-gnat, Gad-fly, Breeze-fly, Zimb or Stomoxys, or the injury to our crops of the Hessian-fly, Wheat-midge, Cabbage-maggot, Onion-maggot, etc. There are, in fact, but two families, Syrphidæ and Tachinidæ, which can be looked upon as beneficial to the cultivator, though many act the part of scavengers. No insects, not even the Lepidoptera, furnish such a variety of curious larval characters, and none, perhaps, offer a wider or more interesting field of investigation to the biologist. It is difficult to give any very satisfactory arrangement of these Two-winged flies, though they easily fall into two rather artificial sections. These are: 1st, Nemocera, or those with long antennæ, having more than six joints, and palpi having four or five joints. The pupa is naked, as in the Lepidoptera, with the limbs exposed. This kind of pupa is called obtected. 2d, Brachocera, or those with short antennæ, not having more than three distinct joints, and palpi with one or two joints. The pupa is mostly coarctate, i.e., is formed within, and more or less completely connected with, the hardened and shrunken skin of the larva.
Fig. 26.—The Sheep Bot (Œstrus ovis). 1, 2, flies; 3, puparium; 4, 5, and 6, larvæ or bots.
“The most anomalous of the Diptera are the Forest-flies and Sheep-ticks (Hippoboscidæ). They have a horny and flattened body, and resemble lice in their parasitic habits, living beneath the hair of bats and birds. Their mode of development has always attracted the attention of entomologists. The larvæ are hatched in the abdomen of the female, which is capable of distention. There it remains and, after assuming the pupa state, is deposited in the form of a short, white, egg-like object, without trace of articulation, and nearly as large as the abdomen of the female fly. Closely allied to these are the Bat-ticks (Nycteribidæ), which possess neither wings nor balancers, and remind one strongly of spiders.
“In this order we may also place certain wingless lice (such as Braula cœca, Nitzch), which infests the Honey-bee in Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, but which has not yet been detected in this country.
Fig. 27.—A Flea (Pulex). (From Packard.)
“Suborder Aphaniptera (αϕανης, inconspicuous; πτερον, wing) or Fleas, comprising the single family Pulicidæ, now placed with the Diptera. Everybody is supposed to be familiar with the appearance of the Flea—its bloodthirsty propensities and amazing muscular power; and while everyone may not have the leisure and means to experience the exhilarating influence of the chase after larger animals, there is no one—be he never so humble—who may not indulge in the hunt after this smaller game! In place of wings the flea has four small, scaly plates. The minute eggs—about a dozen to each female—are