OR PLANT-BUGS. 397 



plants of various kinds^ upon the juices of which they 

 subsist. Their bodies are generally of a soft texture, 

 and pale green is one of their prevailing colours, 

 although a good many of the species are adorned with 

 more variegated tints. Their legs are long, and they 

 run with great rapidity upon the leaves of the plants 

 and trees which they frequent ; they may often be seen 

 also flying actively from place to place in the bright 

 sunshine. Several common species of an elongated 

 form, and usually of a green colour, may be found 

 amongst grass during the summer. They form the 

 genus Miris. A far greater number, however, gene- 

 rally of a more or less oval form, are found upon the 

 plants of hedge-banks, and several very abundant spe- 

 cies are found upon nettles. One of the commonest 

 of these is the Phytocoris tripustulatus, a pretty little 

 oval insect about one-sixth of an inch in length, with 

 the head and prothorax, the antennae and legs yel- 

 lowish, the prothorax marked with black on its hinder 

 margin, the scutellum bright orange, and the hem- 

 elytra blackish, with three orange-yellow spots on the 

 outer margin, of which the last occupies the appendix. 

 In many species the second joint of the antennae 

 is thickened, especially towards the apex, and some 

 of these are sufficiently abundant. One of them, the 

 Capsus ater, which is about a quarter of an inch in 

 length, is usually entirely of a black colour, but 

 sometimes has the legs, and sometimes also the head 

 and prothorax, dull red; a stiU more common and 

 rather larger species, the Capsus capillaris, which 

 is found abundantly upon the nettle, varies in colour 

 from red to black, but always exhibits a bright red spot 

 at the tip of the corium. 



