162 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



found on plants, and subsist on their juices, which they obtain by 

 suction through their sharp beaks. They are easily distinguished 

 from other bugs by the following characters. Eyelets wanting ; 

 antennae four-jointed, with the first and second joints much thicker 

 than the two last, which are very slender and threadlike ; the 

 head short and triangular ; the body oval, flattened, and soft ; the 

 thorax in the form of a broad triangle, with the tip of the anterior 

 angle cut off, and the broadest side applied to the base of the 

 wing-covers ; the latter, when folded, cover the whole of the ab- 

 domen, and their thin portions have only one or two little veins ; 

 the legs are slender, and the shanks are bristled with little points. 

 There are, in this Commonwealth, a good many species belonging 

 to this genus ; but, in my Catalogue of the insects of Massachu- 

 setts, they are included among the species of Capsus, which, 

 indeed, they closely resemble. The Phytocoris lineolaris, or 

 little-lined plant-bug, measures one fifth of an inch, or rather 

 more, in length. It is an exceedingly variable species. The 

 males are generally much darker than the females, being very 

 deep livid brown or almost black above. The head is yellowish, 

 with three narrow longitudinal reddish stripes ; the first joint of 

 the antennae, the terminal half of the second, and the last two 

 joints are blackish ; the beak is more than one third the whole 

 length of the body, when folded beneath the breast, extends to 

 the middle pair of legs, and is of a yellowish color, ringed with 

 black ; the thorax, or that part of the body that comes immedi- 

 ately behind the head, is thickly covered with punctures, has a 

 yellow margin, and five longitudinal yellow lines upon it, which 

 often disappear on the back part ; the scutel, or escutcheon, a 

 small triangular piece behind the thorax, and interposed between 

 the bases of the wing-covers, is also margined with yellow, and 

 has a yellow spot upon it in the form of the letter V, which is 

 often imperfect, so that only three small yellow spots are visible 

 in the place of the three extremities of the letter ; the thick part 

 of the wing-covers is brown, with the outer edge and the longitu- 

 dinal veins sometimes pale or yellowish, and behind this thick 

 part there is a large yellowish spot, on the posterior tip of which 

 is a small black point ; the thin or membranous part of the wing- 

 covers is shaded with dusky clouds ; the under-side of the body is 



