. Annual report - Entomological Society of Ontario. Entomological Society of Ontario; Insect pests; Insects. 24 The Gigantic Water Bug (Belostoma grandis.—Linn.) Fig. 17, This very large bug, which is represented in figure 17, is often a subject of wonder. It is frequently washed up along our lake shores, is often seen in swampy waters, and at other times and in other places intrudes itself upon our notice, always exciting the astonishment of the beholders by its size and strength. This insect belongs to an entirely different order from those already referred to, they belonged to the lepidop-
. Annual report - Entomological Society of Ontario. Entomological Society of Ontario; Insect pests; Insects. 24 The Gigantic Water Bug (Belostoma grandis.—Linn.) Fig. 17, This very large bug, which is represented in figure 17, is often a subject of wonder. It is frequently washed up along our lake shores, is often seen in swampy waters, and at other times and in other places intrudes itself upon our notice, always exciting the astonishment of the beholders by its size and strength. This insect belongs to an entirely different order from those already referred to, they belonged to the lepidop- tera or scale winged insects- this to the order hemiptera, which embraces all those insects which may be correctly and properly known as true bugs. The genus belostoma, to which this par- ticular insect belongs, includes some of the most gigantic forms, some species being as much from three to four and a half inches long—the species with which we are immediately concerned often measures nearly three inches. These insects have very fiat oval bodies, small heads, large eyes, and large membranous wings, which enable them to fly considerable distances. Their fore feet are armed with sharp claws, while their hinder limbs are broad and flat and adapted for swimming. Westwood says: " The females of some species of belostomoe carry their eggs upon their backs, arranging them in a single layer with great ; They feed upon aquatic insects and not upon vegetable food. They are furnished with a sharp and formid- able beak, which they thrust through the bodies of the creatures they attack, at the same time holding their victims firmly fast with their sharp-clawed fore-legs. Dr. Packard says, in his " Guide," p. 537 : " Professor A. E. Verrill has sent me the eggs and freshly hatched young of one of our New England species of bdostoma, the former of which he found in the spring under an old log just at but above the edge of the water. On the 18th of June
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1872
