42 



MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



The Green Soldier-Bug 



Acrosternum hilaris Say 



In the northern states the fruit of peach, apple and pear 

 is occasionally seriously injured by the punctures of a large 

 green stink-bug. The insect is widely distributed throughout 

 the United States and Canada and southward to the West Indies 

 and Brazil. It has also been recorded as attacking cabbage, 

 bean, pea, corn, okra, tomato, eggplant, turnip and mustard, 

 and it also feeds on a large number of 

 shrubs and trees. The insect has been 

 carefully studied as a fruit pest in Ohio. 

 The green soldier-bug (Fig. 36) is from 

 1^ to f inch in length, oblong, oval, 

 bright green in color with the edges of 

 the head, thorax and abdomen narrowly 

 bordered with yellowish or reddish. 

 The winter is passed by the adults 

 hidden away in dry sheltered places, 

 often under fallen leaves. The bugs 

 emerge about the middle of INIay and 

 egg-laying begins about the first of 

 June continuing until the middle of July. The eggs are 

 about Y6 ii^<^'li i^^ length, oval, largest toward the top which is 

 provided with a small circular cap, surrounded by a single row 

 of about sixty-five club-shaped spine-like processes. The eggs 

 are usually light yellow in color but are sometimes light green. 

 Just before hatching, they become pinkish or reddish. They are 

 attached to the leaf by one end and arranged in clusters of 

 tw^enty to fifty. Each female usually lays two batches of eggs 

 and a few may lay a third. The first batch is usually the 

 largest and tlie last \'ery small. The eggs hatch in about a week 

 and the young nymphs remain in a compact cluster near the i^^^- 



FiG. 36. — The green 

 soldier-bug (X If). 



