INJVlUOUti TO CABBAGE AND RELATED CHOI'S 39 





pecially fond of horse-radish, but when its favorite food plants 

 have been destroyed the bugs will migrate to adjoining fields 

 and feed on almost any plant available. Eggplant, asparagus, 

 potato, tomato, okra, bean, beet and even nursery stock are 

 sometimes severely injured under such circumstances. The in- 

 sect also breeds on a large number of wild plants belonging to 

 the mustard and caper families. 



The harlequin bug hibernates as an adult under rubbish ; in 

 southern Florida the insect remains on the food plants during the 

 winter, but its ac- 

 tivities are more 

 or less retarded. 

 As soon as spring 

 opens, the adults 

 emerge from win- 

 ter quarters and 

 congregate on any 

 cole plants avail- 

 able. The female 

 deposits her eggs 

 on the underside 

 of the leaf in 

 masses each con- 

 taining normally 

 twelve eggs ar- 

 ranged in two 

 rows of six each. 



The females that have wintered over are more prolific than those 

 of later generations ; they are each capable of laying about one 

 hundred eggs. Females of the next generation lay on an aver- 

 age only about seventy-five eggs. The egg is ^V in<^l^ "i length 

 by 3^0^ inch in width, cylindrical, truncate at each end ; the 

 u])per end is provided with a circular lid which is pushed off at 



m 



Fig. 



33. — Egg-clusters of the harlequin cabbage bug 

 on the underside of a leaf ( X 2). 



the time of hatcl 



The egg is pearl-gray or pale yellow, 



