INJURIOUS TO CARROT AND RELATED CROPS 193 



Fig. 119. — The tarnished 

 plant-bug, adult (X 41). 



inconspicuous, brownish bug mottled with various shades of 

 reddish and yellowish brown, ^ to ^ inch in length. The bugs 

 are shy, taking flight at the slightest alarm, and are often over- 

 looked by the gardener. 



This insect hibernates as an adult in leaves, grass, stone 

 piles and under other rubbish. The 

 bugs emerge in early spring and are 

 then often destructive to the buds of 

 fruit-trees and nursery stock. They 

 are also to be found abundantly in 

 mullein rosettes and as soon as the 

 days become warmer they begin 

 feeding on various weeds. In New 

 York the eggs become mature in the 

 over-wintering females by the last 

 of April or the first cf jNIay and a 

 generation of young is produced, 

 giving rise to a new brood of adults the latter part of June. 

 The egg (Fig. 120) is nearly -j^ inch in length, flask-shaped 

 and obliquely truncate at the anterior end. The eggs are in- 

 serted their full length into the tender tissue of the plant. 



They have been found in the petioles 

 of peach leaves, the blossom buds of 

 dahlias, the seed-stalks, stems and 

 leaves of volunteer turnips and later 

 in the season in the heads of com- 

 posite plants such as daisies and 

 asters. They hatch in about ten 

 days. The nymphs are yellowish 

 green to greenish, marked on the 

 thorax with four black spots. In the older nymphs the 

 thorax and wing-pads are variously mottled with brownish 

 (Fig. 121). In late summer and fall the nymphs are very 

 abundant on wild carrot, goldenrod and wild asters. There 



Fig. 120. — Eggs of the tar- 

 nished plant-bug in position 

 in tender peach tip (X 11). 



