OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 103 



The larvne, or young nymphjie, are pale green, marked with black, while 

 those more mature show some of the colors of the perfect insect and 

 have large wing-pads. The development is very rapid, often requiring 

 not more than two weeks from the egg to the mature insect. It attacks 

 not only cabbage and other cruciferous plants, but sometimes injures 

 peas and other vegetables. 



The other members of this family make amends for the injuries 

 done by this one. Among them we find the Spined Soldier-bug (Pod- 

 isus spinosus Dallas), long celebrated as a most persistent enemy of the 

 Colorado Potato-beetle. This insect is of a dull green, and is chiefly 

 characterized by having the sides of the pro-thorax produced into 

 sharp spines. The beak is so strong that the habit of the bug, even 

 when very young and small, is to impale the beetle larva or young cater- 

 pillar upon the end of it, and hold it up in the air while sucking out 

 the fluid contents of the body. 



The Reduvi^d^e are fiercely predaceous and destroy great num- 

 bers of other insects, and are thus directly of the greatest benefit to 

 the agriculturist. They are more slender and elongate in form and of 

 harder texture than the members of the preceding family, and some 

 are rather elegantly colored. The strong, horny beak is folded under 

 against the breast when not in use. The legs are stout in some species, 

 somewhat bristly, but seldom toothed or spined. Some of the species 

 are more than an inch in length, but the majority only about half that 

 length. 



The Wheel-bug fPrionidas cristatusj, which is quite common in the 

 more southern States, is one of the largest and most formidable species. 

 It is of a shaded gray color, and has a curious notched crest on the 

 pro-thorax, which resembles a section of a cog-wheel — whence its 

 popular name. 



The young bugs are bright red, with black markings. They are 

 most ferocious, and Mr. Glover says : '' They kill their prey by inserting 

 into it the proboscis, which ejects a most powerful poisonous liquid 

 into the wound. The victim, thus pierced, dies in a very short time. 

 They then leisurely suck out the juices and drop the empty skin.'' 



They attack all kinds of caterpillars and grubs, and even destroy 

 one another at times in true cannibal fashion. 



The Blood-sucking Cone-nose or Big Bed-bug (Conorhinus sangtii- 

 sugus Lee.) is sometimes found hiding in beds and stuffed furniture, and 

 does not hesitate to attack the rightful occupants, upon whom it in- 

 flicts very painful wounds. People have been known to die from the 

 € fleets of its venomed stabs. It is about an inch in length, black 

 margined all around with short red dashes. 



