FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



insect suggests a delicate Walking Stick. It is called 

 longipes in many publications. When full grown, it is 

 usually at least 1.3 in. long, with wings only about a fourth 

 as long as the legs. The ground-color is brownish, with 

 the upper surface of the abdomen reddish and a few pale 

 spots on each side of the head; the front legs more or less 

 banded. It is said to feed chiefly on spiders. 



PHYMATID^: 



The two genera may be separated as follows : Scutellum 

 short, head with a bifid prolongation above the insertion 

 of the antennae, Phymata; and scutellum very long, extend- 

 ing to the tip of the abdomen, head without such pro- 

 longation, Macrocephalus. We have but few species of 

 Ambush Bugs. Phymata erosa (Plate XXVI) is the one 

 most likely to be collected. Like most of the others, it 

 conceals itself in flowers, where it captures various insects, 

 including large butterflies and even bees. The front legs 

 are short but very powerful, and apparently its beak is 

 quite deadly. The generic name means "tumor" and was 

 probably suggested by the projections from the body. 

 The somewhat knobbed antennas fit in grooves under the 

 sides of the pronotum. This species is greenish-yellow, 

 marked with a broad black band across the expanded 

 part of the abdomen. The female is about .4 in long; 

 the male somewhat less. 



The adult Lace-bugs are small, delicate and, under a 

 lens, beautiful insects; in most of the species the front 

 wings and other parts, including expansions of the pro- 

 thorax, are like fine lace. Furthermore, they lack the 

 unpleasant odors of many Hemiptera. They are usually 

 found on the under sides of leaves. The eggs are often 

 placed near the leaf -veins. Some species, at least, hiber- 

 nate as adults. Plate XXVI shows Corythuca arcuata, 

 which is common on oaks. Piesma cinerea is our only 

 species of the subfamily Piesminae; they have ocelli (other 

 Tingidids do not) and the membrane has no net- work. 



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