124 FAMILY V. — PENTATOMID^E. 



found every month in the year. From the time that the sur- 

 vivors emerge from their winter hiding places in April until 

 the hoar frosts of autumn impel their offspring to seek cover, 

 it may be taken by sweeping herbage along roadsides and 

 borders of cultivated fields, especially those in dry sandy places. 

 On Oct. 16, in Vigo County, I once found hundreds of them 

 crawling over the foliage of the strawberry bush, Euonymus 

 americanus L. In Florida it has often been noted at porch light 

 and in winter is sometimes beaten from bunches of Spanish 

 moss or dead leaves. Of the 17 specimens at hand 13 have the 

 transverse calloused white line of thorax entire, while in the 

 other four it is broken into two oblong dashes. In four there 

 is also a small white spot at middle of base of scutellum. 



This small olive-gray "stink-bug" is one of the most common 

 Pentatomids of the eastern United States, occurring usually in 

 numbers everywhere from Quebec and New England to Wyo- 

 ming and Texas ; also in Mexico and the West Indies, but is not 

 known from the Pacific slope. The food plant is said by nu- 

 merous authors to be the common mullein, but I have never 

 found the young on that homely herb and believe that the bug 

 is only a visitor thereon, especially in the autumn months when 

 it is seeking a hiding place. In this I am borne out by Stoner 

 (1920, 76) who has written of its habits in Iowa as follows: 



"Usually we have found this insect on Kentucky blue grass (Poa 

 pratensis Linn.) growing along the edges of woods or in cleared places 

 in the woods. Specimens have also been taken on common mullein (Ver- 

 basciuii thapsus Linn.) growing in pastures and open fields. The insects 

 have a tendency to visit this plant, especially towards autumn, as the 

 cold days come on, the dense wool which covers the leaves offering con- 

 siderable warmth. Under these mullein stalks after a heavy freeze or in 

 the spring one can usually find the remains of bugs which have sought 

 shelter but have been unable to survive the rigors of an Iowa winter. In- 

 dividuals which have successfully hibernated have been found under dead 

 leaves along roadsides." 



80 (112). Mormidea pictiventris Stal, 1862, 103. 



Elongate-oval, subconvex. Above grayish-yellow to brownish-black, 

 shining; pronotum with narrow edge of side margins and two round 

 elevated spots on front portion white tinged with reddish; scutellum with 

 the tip, a small spot at middle of base, a curved submarginal line ex- 

 tending back from each basal angle to beyond middle and also the basal 

 fourth of costal edge of elytra, reddish-white; under surface dull yellow 

 with a broad median stripe and a naiTower one each side extending back 

 to fifth ventral, shining black or piceous; legs yellow with purplish 



