112 THE GYPSY MOTH APPENDIX. 



THE SPECIES OF PODISUS OCCURRING 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



BY A. H. KIRKLAND, M.S, 



As one of the natural checks upon the undesirable increase 

 of many species of insects, the " soldier bugs" of the genus 

 Podisus are of considerable economic importance. Arboreal 

 in habits, almost entirely predatory and requiring daily a 

 considerable amount of fresh food, they exert an influence 

 which may entitle them to rank with the beneficial pre- 

 daceous insects of any order. When disturbed, these bugs 

 emit a decidedly unpleasant odor, and in their passage over 

 berries sometimes impart to the fruit a most nauseating taste, 

 a habit common to many bugs, and one that has given them 

 a most disreputable popular name. Yet when we consider 

 the fact that throughout the season of their activity these 

 soldier bugs are daily destroying the caterpillars that strip 

 our trees, the slugs that devour our potato vines and numer- 

 ous other species that prey upon our cultivated crops, the 

 occasional annoyance caused by these insects is of but trifling 

 importance. In our w r ork against the gypsy moth no other 

 predaceous insects have been so commonly noticed destroy- 

 ing the caterpillars, and their attacks upon other injurious 

 larvae have been a matter of frequent observation. During 

 the past four years, in connection with other work, the writer 

 has had many opportunities to observe the feeding habits of 

 our common species, and has published elsewhere, in detail, 

 the life history of two members of this genus. The litera- 

 ture upon these most interesting insects is found in several 

 languages and in the publications of both hemispheres. As 

 a large part of it is somewhat difficult of access to the general 

 student, it has seemed that a compilation of the known facts 



