INSECTS OF AUGUST. 211 



ally of Reduvius personatus, a valued friend to man, as in Europe 

 it destroys the bed-bug. Its specific name is derived from its 

 habit while immature, of concealing itself in a case of dust, the 

 better to approach its prey- 



Another frieud of the agriculturist is the Phymata erosa (Fig. 

 2G3). Mr. F. G. Sanborn states that -'these insects have been 

 taken in great numbers upon the linden trees in the city of 

 Boston, and were seen in the act of devouring the 

 Aphides, which have infested the shade trees of that 

 city for several years past. They are described by a 

 gentleman who watched their operations with great 

 interest, as ' stealing up to a louse, coolly seizing and 

 tucking it under the arm, then inserting the beak 203. Thy- 

 and sucking it dry.' They are supposed to feed also ni^'a. 

 on other vegetable-eating insects as well as the plant louse." 



Phytocoris lineolaris swarms in our gardens during this 

 month. It is described and figured in "Harris's Treatise on In- 

 sects." Closely allied, though generally wingless, is that enemy 

 of our peace, the bed-bug. It has a small, somewhat triangular 

 head, orbicular thorax, and large, round, flattened abdomen. 

 It is generally wingless, having only two small wing-pads in- 

 stead. The eggs are oval, white ; the young escape by pushing 

 off a lid at one end of the shell. They are white, transparent, 

 differing from the perfect insect in having a broad, triangular 

 head, and short, thick antennae. Indeed, this is the general 

 form of lice (Pediculus^estimentl, and P. capitis), to which the 

 larva of Cimex has the closest affinity. Some Cimices are para- 

 sites, infesting pigeons, swallows, etc., in this way also showing 

 their near relation to lice. Besides the Reduvius, the cockroach 

 is the natural enemy of the bed-bug, and destroys large num- 

 bers. Houses have been cleared of bugs after being thoroughly 

 fumigated with brimstone. 



During this month the ravages of grasshoppers are, in the 

 West, very wide-spread. We have received from Major F. 

 Hawn, of Leavenworth, Kansas, a most interesting account of 

 the Red-legged locust (Caloptenus femur-rubrum). "They com- 

 mence depositing their eggs in the latter part of August. They 

 are fusiform, slightly gibbous, and of a buflT-color. They are 

 placed about three-fourths of an inch beneath the surface, in a 

 compact mass around a vertical axis, pointing obliquely up and 

 outwards, and are partially cemented together, the whole pre- 



