198 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Elaine. This species is very common and is widely distributed 

 throughout the country. It may be found on most kinds of 

 vegetation in the fields, gardens and orchards. It is not quite 

 one-fourth of an inch in length and about one-eighth in width, 

 and like most bugs is quite fiat. It is generally some shade of 

 brown but varies to quite a degree. There is a yellowish 

 \'-shaped mark on the scutellum ( the trangular piece on the 

 back ) also yellow marks on the thorax. They are generally 

 very active, especially during the heat of the day and dodge 

 around the stem or fly quickly at the least approach of danger. 

 There are probably two generations during the season, as the 

 adult female hibernates through the winter, appearing early in 

 the spring, and is found throughout the rest of the season. 

 They seem to be especially fond of the dahlia, chrysanthemum 

 and aster buds, and this year they caused considerable damage to 

 the apples by "stinging" the buds and young fruit, thus causing 

 it to grow so deformed in many cases as not to be marketable. 



The damage done by this insect has been referred to in the 

 writings of our leading entomologists. Dr. Harris in his Massa- 

 chusetts Report in 1838 s])eaks of it as "swarming in immense 

 numbers and attached to almost all kinds of vegetation." 



Prof. Riley in his second report of [Missouri, 1870, mentions 

 it as being "one of those insects that we are almost powerless 

 to control. The puncture seems to have a peculiar poisonous 

 efifect. It has been known to blight whole potato fields and 

 destroy young })ear orchards." 



Dr. Forbes in his report of Illinois for 1883 speaks of this 

 bug as being extremely abundant, sucking the sap from the 

 tassels on the corn. In "Insect Life" it is mentioned as destroy- 

 ing about one-third of the fruit buds of the pear and apple in 

 one town in Kansas in 1889. In 1876 it was reported as doing 

 great damage to the wheat, corn and potatoes in Michigan. It 

 is recorded in southern Illinois as having caused the "buttoning" 

 of strawberries so-called, this being a hardening and drying of 

 a part or whole of the berry. 



REMEDIES. 

 Kerosene emulsion has been used quite efifectively, if applied 

 in the early morning or at night when the insects are sluggish. 



