Bugs

Bugs, a group of insects belonging to the order Rhynchota, and constituting the sub-order Heteroptera. They are insects with jaws adapted for piercing, and provided with a suctorial proboscis or rostrum: they have four wings, and the name of the sub-order is derived from the fact that those of the anterior pair are half-horny and half membranous (hemielytra, and hence sometimes known as the Hemiptera). Some bugs, however, are wingless. The majority live on plants, but others, including most of the aquatic species, live on other insects, or suck the blood of birds or mammals. The first segment of the body (prothorax) is large and movable in nearly all the forms, and by scraping this against the neck a slight but shrill note is produced: this is especially noticeable in Pirates stridulus, a species common under stones, etc., in the South of France. The bugs are divided into two groups - the Land Bugs or Geocores, and the Water Bugs or Hydrocores; in the former the antennae and the rostrum or sucking tube are both longer than in the latter division. The best known species is the Bed Bug (Cimex or Acanthia lectularius, Linn, sp.), which is probably indigenous to Africa, whence it has been carried over the world. It was recorded in England in 1503, but does not appear to have established itself till late in the seventeenth century, when it is said to have been largely introduced in the timber used for rebuilding London after the Fire. It is mainly kept in check by the cockroach. Some of the bugs are of some size; thus some of the species of Belostoma measure six inches in expanse of wing; the Wheel Bug (Reduvius personatus, Linn, sp.) is one of the largest English species. A few genera, such as Phyllomorpha, resemble the leaves of plants in appearance. The species of one genus, Halobates, live on the surface of the sea, far from land. The earliest species occur in the Lias (q.v.).