FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



or broken by the wind. The young shoot is checked and 

 frequently droops and dies. The buds of dahlias and 

 roses are often blasted." The vermilion nymphs hatch 

 from overwintered eggs placed in slits, cut lengthwise 

 into the stems of the plants, each containing six or more 

 eggs. The adult stage is reached about the middle of 

 June. 



Halticus uhleri is one of the smallest species of the 

 family; black with yellow on legs, antennae, and, as scale- 

 like tufts, on the front wings. They hop like flea-beetles 

 and feed on a variety of garden-plants. Some individuals 

 are short- winged. 



Some Mirids slightly resemble ants in shape and have 

 yellow spots so placed as to increase the resemblance by 

 giving them the appearance of having narrow waists, but 

 it is difficult to prove that this resemblance is of any use 

 to them. 



ClMICID.E 



Most of us have had experience with one member of this 

 family, although many do not like to talk about it. Per- 

 haps no other insect has been given so many euphemistic 

 names, but the one which is most generally understood is 

 plain Bed-bug. In fact, that is a translation of (or, is it 

 the other w r ay around?) its scientific name, lectularius. It 

 belongs to the genus Cimex, which has also, improperly, 

 been called Acanthus. A description of its appearance 

 and smell is unnecessary, especially in a Field Book ; it is 

 never found afield, under bark and the like; those are quite 

 different creatures. It is also confused with the creature 

 which closely resembles it and is often found in the nests 

 of swallows; that is (Eciacus vicarius ( = hirundinis} and 

 rarely bothers man. The number of generations a year 

 of lectularis depends on the temperature and food-supply; 

 there are, normally, only one or two and it is not true that 

 "they become grand-fathers in a night." Kerosene in all 

 the bed-room cracks and crannies will do the trick but, 

 especially in the spring, the treatment should be repeated 

 in order to kill those which were unhatched at the time of 

 the first application and may have been protected by the 

 egg-shell. 



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