138 FAMILY V. — PENTATOMID^E. 



broadly but evidently concave, the edge of their apical two-thirds finely 

 crenulate; humeral angles acute or subspinose; disk with numerous 

 irregular smooth areas, the punctures widely scattered, more dense along 

 the margins. Scutellum with apical half sparsely punctate, the tip 

 smooth. Elytra with finer punctures, sparsely placed. Connexivum 

 very narrowly or not at all exposed. Thoracic pleura coarsely punc- 

 tate; abdomen almost smooth, often flecked with minute reddish dots. 

 Genital plate of male subtruncate or feebly sinuate. Length, 11.5 — 14 

 mm.; width, 8—9 mm. (Fig. 28). 



Common throughout Indiana, Feb. 8 — Nov. 28. Hibernates 

 beneath cover, especially beneath basal leaves of mullein and 

 old fence rails. Emerges about April 1st and from then on 

 occurs on foliage and flowers of numerous plants, frequenting 

 for the most part those found along the margins of upland 

 fields and in open woodland pastures. Often frequent on red 

 clover, mullein, evening primrose, thistle and burdock in June 

 and July. On Oct. 10, I once found it by scores on the stems 

 and leaves of the bouncing bet, Saponaria officinalis L. About 

 mid-October the adults of the last brood began to seek their 

 winter cover, but often emerge on warm days as late as Nov. 

 20, and sun themselves on the boles of trees and other con- 

 venient resting places. 



In the northern States variolar ins is one of the most common 

 of the Pentatomids, ranging from Ontario and New England to 

 British Columbia, Idaho and Kansas. It is seldom found south 

 of latitude 37 degrees though I recorded it (1902, 224) from 

 Ormond, Fla., and Barber (1914, 523) reports it from St. 

 Augustine and Sanford, that State, these being the only pre- 

 vious definite records of its occurrence south of Kentucky and 

 the District of Columbia. However, Brimley (Ms.) reports it 

 as having been taken at five different stations in North Car- 

 olina, one of them being on Grandfather Mountain at an 

 altitude of 5,000 feet. Of its food habits Forbes (1905, 195) 

 states : 



"We have repeatedly found it on corn sucking sap from the leaves, 

 from the husks and kernels at the tip of the ear and from other parts 

 of the plant. .In Kentucky it has been found feeding at the base of the 

 tobacco leaves, causing them to become limp and the stalk to wilt and 

 fall. We have taken the adult on rye, red clover, broom-corn, oats, 

 thistle and grasses, and they have been reported to eat tomatoes, red- 

 raspberries, peaches, mullein and Thcnitopsis." 



Olsen (1912, 53) states that 50 specimens were collected 

 from the Rockaway Beach washup on May 1, and that it has 



