THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 115 



NOTES ON PREDACEOUS HETEROPTERA, WITH PROF. 

 UHLER'S DESCRIPTION OF TWO SPECIES. 



BY A. H. KIRKLAND, ASSISTANT ENTOiMOLOGIST TO THE GYPSY MOTH 

 COMMITTEE, AMHERST, MASS. 



During the month of May, 1896, while making field observations in 

 Maiden and Medford, Mass., upon the insects known to attack the 

 gypsy moth (Porthetria dispar), I found that many of the common 

 predaceous bugs upon emerging from hibernation greedily availed them- 

 selves of the food supply offered by the tent caterpillar and destroyed 

 large numbers of this insect. Podisus placidus, P. serieventris, P. 

 modestus, Dendrocoris humeralis^ Eiischisttis fissUis, E. tristigmus, E. 

 ictericus, E. poiifus n. sp., Menedes insertus and Diplodus lividus were 

 often found feeding upon partially grown tent caterpillars. Podisus 

 placidjis and P. serieventris enter the tents and prey upon the inmates, 

 but the other species generally attacked the larvae while they were 

 feeding. The species of Euschistus are the least predaceous and it is 

 probable that they naturally feed more upon plants than upon insects. 



When feeding, these Pentatomids insert the setfe only, and not the 

 sheath, into the body of the caterpillar. I have watched them very 

 carefully under a hand lens and my observations fully agree with those of 

 Mr. Marlatt, as given in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of 

 Washington, Vol. II., p. 249. I have seen P. placidus extend its setae 

 beyond the end of the beak to a distance equal to the length of the last 

 rostral joint. When the setae are inserted in a strongly chitinized part 

 the struggles of the larva often pull them from the sheath. In such cases 

 the beak is drawn through the fore tarsi in the same manner that an ant 

 cleans its antennae, and thus the setae are forced back into the sheath. I 

 have also removed the setae of P. cynicus from the sheath by means of a 

 fine needle applied along the labrum and have seen them replaced in the 

 same manner. 



In the Report of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture for 1896 

 I have published, with illustrations, notes on a part of the early stages 

 and habits of some of these Heteroptera and the life history of /".//rt^/^wi. 

 This insect was first brought to the attention of entomologists through 

 some very interesting notes published by Prof. Saunders in the Canadian 

 Entomologist, Vol. II., p. 15. The nymphs of this species, at first 

 thought to be Stiretriis anchovago (Fab.) (fimbriatiis, Say), were found 

 attacking the larvae of the currant sawfly, Pteronus ribesii (Scop.). Walsh, 



