The Insect Folk Part 30

The barn swallow is sadly afflicted by a species of these unwelcome visitors to its nest, and the poor bats are also victimized by a species of bed bug.

The bad odor comes from a liquid poured out of the back of young bugs, and from the under side of old ones.

These insects are very undesirable acquaintances, and they breed so fast that even one, brought into a house, may cause it to become generally infested in a few weeks.

Eternal vigilance and great cleanliness are the housekeeper's only safeguards.

There are some species of bugs that closely resemble the bed bugs, only they have wings, and live on flowers or in the cracks of the bark of trees.

THE TROUBLESOME RED BUG

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There are a great many kinds of bugs on the leaves and flowers in summer, and some of them do much damage by eating the vegetation.

One of the most troublesome of these is the red bug. Here is a picture of one.

Its wings look as if they had an X drawn on them.

Let us spread out one of the wings.

Why do you all laugh?

Sure enough, Ned, how _can_ we spread out the wings of a bug in a picture?

[Ill.u.s.tration]

But there is a way out of that difficulty.

Yes, another picture.

Only the upper wings are spread out.

You see, the half of the wing next the body is stiff like a wing cover, and the other half is thin and silky, and folds up under the stiff part.

When the insect flies it spreads out the under wings, too, for there is a pair of thin, flying wings folded on the body under these upper wings.

These upper wings, that are half wing cover and half flying wing, are characteristic of the bug order.

Not all the bugs have them, but a great many have.

The name of the bug order is HEM-IP-TERA, meaning half-wing.

You see why.

Yes, John, the word "hemiptera" comes from two Greek words, _hemi_, meaning half, and, as you know, _pteron_, meaning a wing.

The young red bugs are like the old ones, excepting in color.

What do we call the young of insects, little Nell?

Yes, we call them larvae. These red bug larvae are bright red with black legs.

They pierce the cotton plants in the South, and suck out the juices.

Of course, they grow and moult until they arrive at the adult form.

What, John? You do not know what "adult" means? Adult means "grown-up."

It is a short way of saying grown-up; and after this, when we mean a grown-up insect, let us say an adult insect.

To return to the red bug. When it reaches the adult state, it is not such a bright red, but rather of a reddish color with brownish wings striped with light yellow.

Beside eating the juices of the cotton plants and thus injuring or even killing them, the red bugs stain the white cotton and spoil it.

They are also troublesome in some parts of Florida, where they pierce the skins of the oranges, and cause the fruit to decay.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE RAVENOUS CHINCH BUGS

There are a great many bugs injurious to vegetation, among them the little chinch bugs.

They are so small, each one no larger than a plant louse, that you would not think they could do much harm.

One of them could not, but when they appear in millions, then they are terrible.

Here is one magnified to show the white wing covers with black markings.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Would you believe that this tiny insect has destroyed millions of dollars' worth of grain in the United States?

What, Charlie? you should think they could be killed out? That is a very difficult task. You see they are so small, and they breed so fast. There are two broods of them in one year, and when they have eaten one grain field they start off, millions strong, to another.

Of course a great many methods have been tried for getting rid of them, and one very curious method you will like to hear about.

You know insects are subject to diseases.

What, Nell, you never heard of a sick bug?

Yet it seems they are sick sometimes, and certain diseases kill them.

Chinch bugs are not as healthy in some places as in others.