Oct. 21, 1918 The Meadow Plant Bug, Miris dolabratus 199 



SUMMARY 



(i) Miris dolabratus has been a conspicuous insect in timothy meadows 

 in portions of the eastern United States during the past 40 years and now 

 has a distribution as far west as Illinois and Minnesota and south in the 

 Mississippi Valley into Kentucky. 



(2) It is believed to be an introduced species, coming from Europe 

 with timothy hay or other large-stemmed grass shipped for forage or 

 packing some time between 1800 and 1825. 



(3) It feeds upon cultivated grasses, especially timothy, orchard grass, 

 and meadow fescue, and when abundant must seriously affect the value 

 of the crop. 



(4) It is a dimorphic species, there being two forms of females, a long- 

 winged and a short-winged form, the latter being far more plentiful, 

 about 90 per cent. 



(5) The species hibernates in the egg form; hatching occurs about 

 May 25 to June 10 in Maine; and the nymphs pass through five instars 

 of about six or seven days each, adults occurring from early July, mating 

 and laying eggs from July 10 to August i for the short- winged forms 

 necessarily in the fields where the females have developed. 



(6) The eggs are laid in stems of grass or clover in fields where females 

 have grown, being thrust through the wall of the stem and held by an 

 expanded cap which is firmly held by the walls of the stem, the egg being 

 protected in the hollow of the stem and in this position remain for at least 

 eight or nine months before hatching. 



(7) Measures for control so far evident and based on habits determined 

 will consist especially of rotation, with probably some advantage from 

 burning, early cutting, pasturing heavily in fall, and possibly by mechani- 

 cal devices for capturing the nymphs or adults. 



(8) The spread of the insect should be prevented by care in the dispo- 

 sition of timothy hay moved to a distance. No hay from an infested 

 district should be allowed to be scattered in or near meadows in localities 

 where the insect is not already present. 



(9) Natural enemies consist so far as at present known of spiders, the 

 predacious damsel bugs, Reduviolus ferus, a tachnid fly, Phorantha occi- 

 dentis, and an undetermined species and a species of fungus, Entomoph- 

 thora sp. 



LITERATURE CITED 

 Howard, L. O. 



1892. A NEW ENEMY TO TIMOTHY GRASS. In Insect Life, V. 5, no. 2, p. 90-92. 

 Leonard, M. D. 



I916. A TACHINID PARASITE REARED FROM AN ADULT CAPSID (dIP., HOM.). In Ent. 



News, V. 27, no. 5, p. 236. 

 Linn6, Carl von. 



1758. SYSTEMA NATURE . . . cd. lo, V. I. Holmiae. 



