The Four-lined Leaf-Bug. 235 



The nymphs in any stage are surprisingly active. Their con- 

 spicuous coloring would seem to render them easily seen. But they 

 usually manage to see you first and scamper off to the opposite side 

 of the leaf or stem as though they were playing " hide and seek " 

 until you are out of sight. The graphic description of the activity of 

 the adults quoted under the next heading is equally applicable to the 

 nymphs, except that they can only run and not fly. 



We believe the nymphs will usually be found only on shrubby 

 plants like the currant and sage ; a few naay stray onto herbaceous 

 plants. This seems rather a broad statement. But the discussion of 

 the oviposition and hibernation of the pest on another page will 

 show that it must follow as a natural consequence. And curiously 

 enough, a careful sifting of the recorded facts regarding the insect 

 indicate the same thing. For instance, in all accounts of attacks of 

 the insect upon plants other than shrubs, there is nothing said about 

 nymphs; only the adult is described. Furthermore, where the date 

 of the attack is given, it is in every case after the time when the 

 change to the adult stage occurs. In fact, the only published descrip- 

 tions of the nymphal stages before the fifth or last were taken from 

 specimens captured on sage.* 



JSahits of the adult. — The adult insects usually begin to appear 

 about the second week in June. They are provided with a beak and 

 feed in the same manner as do the fiymphs. They are more voracious, 

 however, and do more damage. As Dr. Fitch has very graphically 

 said : " These bugs are extremely shy and constantly on the alert to 

 escape notice. When approached they quickly and adroitly slip 

 around the edge of the leaf to its opposite side, where they will be 

 hid from view. Thus on coming to a mass of shrubbery on which 

 there are hundreds of them, their presence will not be suspected, not 

 one of them being anywhere visible. But upon bending a stalk aside 

 so as to bring the other surface of its leaves into view, here and there 

 one of them will be seen, standing quietly on its leaf with a look of 

 perfect innocence and as if unconscious of any guile or deceit; yet 

 watching its opportunity to do so unobserved, it again expertly dodges 

 around to the back side of the leaf. If the hand approaches to seize 

 it, it quickly drops itself down among the foliage beneath. Or if 

 one hand is held under the leaf, whereby it in dropping falls into it 



*Mi88 Murtfeldt speaks of the insect as occurring on clover in the middle 

 of May, and says: " Its broad flat larva is of a dull, pale green color, varie- 

 gated with a few ferruginous marks and shadings. The pupa is very similar, 

 with the addition of the wing pads." These descriptions indicate that it is 

 very doubtful if she saw the nymphs of the Four-lined Leaf -bug. 



