24 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '17 



Some Unusual Orchid Insects (Hem., Lep., Dip., Col.)- 



By HARRY B. WEISS, New Brunswick, New Jersey. 



(Plates IV and V.) 



The following notes relate only to unusual insects which 

 have been found associated with orchids growing in New Jer- 

 sey greenhouses. Biological information concerning such 

 species accumulates slowly, especially when one is forced to 

 study them in greenhouses, where material as a rule is ex- 

 ceedingly scarce and the plants too valuable for unlimited ex- 

 perimentation. 



Two of the species mentioned herein are new, having only re- 

 cently been described by Mr. G. C. Champion, in the Ento- 

 mologist's Monthly Magazine for September, 1916, page 200. 

 These are the weevils Cholus cattleyae and Diorymellus laevl- 

 margo. Inasmuch as the above mentioned publication is 

 readily accessible to entomologists in America, it was not 

 thought necessary to reprint the descriptions which Mr. 

 Champion so kindly drew up at my request. 



Tenthecoris bicolor Scott (Hemip.). 



This blue and red member of the family Miridac is occa- 

 sionally met with in New Jersey greenhouses where orchids 

 are grown and has been taken at various times by inspectors 

 examining orchids from South America. It is a common oc- 

 currence to find the leaves of Cattlcya orchids imported from 

 Brazil covered with irregular, white spots one or 

 two millimetres in size, due to the abstraction of chlorophyll 

 by this bug. (Plate IV, fig. 3). As a rule it is never abund- 

 ant enough in greenhouses to do much damage, although it 

 has been known in the past to occur in numbers sufficient to 

 seriously weaken and disfigure the orchids. It is incorrectly 

 known to many orchid growers as the "Brazilian thrips." 



The adult lives underneath the leaves of infested plants and 

 both the nymphs and adults puncture the leaves and suck the 

 juices. Cattleyas are especially subject to attack and Laelias 

 and Sophronitis often show the characteristic spotting of the 

 leaves. The following brief description from an account in 



