THE MEADOW PLANT BUG, MIRIS DOLABRATUS^ 



By Herbert Osborn ^ 



Professor of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State University, and Consulting En- 

 tomologist, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station 



INTRODUCTION 



The meadow plant bug, Miris dolahratus L. , presents a number of inter- 

 esting problems, biologic as well as economic, and, considering its great 

 abundance over a large area of the eastern United States and Canada 

 during the past 40 years, it seems strange that it has not received more 

 careful investigation. 



My own attention was attracted by its appearance in immense num- 

 bers in northern Ohio at about the time of my removal to that State in 

 1898. It was entirely unknown to me from previous field collecting, and 

 specimens I had seen had been collected in western New York by Mr, 

 E. P. Van Duzee about the year 1888. 



My attention was again forcibly attracted to the species by its great 

 abundance in Maine in 1914, when I encountered it while studying 

 the meadow leafhoppers. Reference to the hterature indicated the 

 almost total neglect of the species in this country, and almost nothing 

 _ concerning its economic importance was found. It seemed, therefore, 

 well worth a special study, and I was gratified to be able to arrange with 

 the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station to undertake a summer's 

 study of the species at Orono. 



As an Old World species the insect has evidently been famiUar since it 

 was described by Linnaeus {1758, p. 449),^ and has had frequent mention 

 by later writers, who have treated it simply from the systematic stand- 

 point. Wolff {1802, p. 115-116, fig. log-iio) indeed gives a recognizable 

 figure of the nymph in one of the later instars, also a rough sketch of the 

 egg; but, so far as noted, no detailed study of the life history, habits, or 

 economic status has been made, even in the regions where it has been 

 longest known. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES 



The range of the species is evidently throughout the Palearctic region, 

 as the European records cover the territory to the Mediterranean, and 

 the Asiatic seem to include all north of the Himalaya Mountains at least. 



1 Papers from the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station: Entomology 99. Contribution from the 

 Department of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State University, No. 53. 



2 1 am indebted to a number of persons for assistance in the preparation of this report, especially to Dr. 

 Edith M. Patch, of the Maine Experiment Station, for facilities to carry forward the study and to Mr. R. K. 

 Fletcher for careful attention to field observations and to the entomologists ot various States who have 

 kindly taken the trouble to send records for their territory. 



' Bibliographic citations in parentheses refer to " Literature cited," p. 199-200. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XV, No. 3 



Washington, D. C. Oct. 21, 1918 



pv Key No. Me.-ii 



(175) 



