New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 393 



when disturbed. After the third and fourth molts the insects are 

 more active and are found more frequently on the new growth of vines. 

 Early in September some of the females reach maturity, when 

 pairing begins. This function does not, as far as observed, interfere 

 with the feeding of the females. In £act, it appears probable that 

 the females feed until they commence to deposit eggs. In no stage 

 of their development have they been observed, either in breeding 

 cage or in the field, to feed on the leaves or leaf-petioles. Like the 

 nymphs, the adults are shy creatures and when disturbed dodge to 

 the opposite side of the branch on which they have been resting 

 or feeding. When in their characteristic positions the long forelegs 

 of the insects hold the anterior portions of their bodies well away 

 from the branch on which they happen to be sitting, while their 

 prominent eyes apparently enable them to see in all directions. 

 Moreover, the posterior legs, which have spined tibiae and tarsi, 

 give a good anchorage and serve as powerful springing organs. The 

 adults are able to jump at least a yard, but the distance they pro- 

 ject themselves is not so remarkable as the velocity with which 

 they are able to move under such circumstances. Because of the 

 position in which they rest on a branch, the insects, when in the act 

 of jumping, convey the impression that they are moving backward 

 rather than forward. 



effect on vine and fruit of feeding of toad-bug. 



The feeding of this pest on the vines of the cranberry produces 

 apparently the same effect as that of the squash bug on vines and 

 leaves of the squash; that is, the parts attacked wilt; but the ever- 

 green leaves of the cranberry do not show wilting as plainly as the 

 leaves of the squash. The first symptom of injury is the closing 

 in, toward the branch, of the leaves on the new growth, while the 

 leaves on the wood of the previous year's growth appear normal. 

 (Plate XII, fig. 2, c and d.) The second stage of the injury is the 

 change in color of the new growth, which takes a reddish tinge and 

 finally a brown straw-color. Usually the work of the insects will first 

 attract attention from a distance by a reddish tinge over the 

 bog in July, similar to the fall-ripening effect of frost. Close 

 examination of a plant will show a branch here and there on which 

 all the leaves on the new growth are turning brown. This is followed 

 by the dying of the branch, as if broken from the plant. Where the 



