INJURIOUS TO CABBAGE AND RELATED CROPS 47 



The False Chincii-Bug 



Nysius erica; Schilling 



Cabbage, cauliflower, radish and turnip are occasionally sub- 

 ject to injury by a small grayish brown bug known as the 

 false chinch-bug. This insect is widely distributed through- 

 out the United States from California to New Hampshire and 

 southward. It has been reported as most troublesome in the 

 upper Mississippi Valley and in the western 

 states. These bugs are very general 

 feeders and sometimes injure beets, let- 

 tuce, mustard, potatoes, corn, strawberry, 

 cotton and even apple nursery stock and 

 young grape vines. Seed-beets during the 

 second year's growth are sometimes 

 severely injured. 



The false chinch-bug hibernates as an 

 adult in rubbish and under the leaves 

 around the base of its food plants. The 

 adult '(Fig- 39) is about J inch in length, 

 grayish brown in color, sprinkled with 

 blackish ; the head is marked with two 

 longitudinal black lines and there is a transverse black band 

 across the front of the prothorax ; the legs are yellowish brown. 

 The bugs are most destructive in early spring when the adults 

 come out of hibernation in great numbers and swarm on the 

 young plants. In feeding, they puncture the leaves and suck 

 out the sap, causing the plants to wilt, turn brown and die. 

 The early spring and late fall broods deposit their eggs in 

 cracks of the soil. The other broods place their eggs in the 

 heads of various wild plants. The egg is described as being 

 slender, cylindrical, irregularly wrinkled and tapering at both 

 ends ; it is vellow in color, orange-red at the anterior end. 



Fig. 39. — The false 

 chinch-bug, adult 

 (Xll). 



