ORDER II. BUGS. 81 



the express condition of suffering them to enjoy their feast 

 without molestation." 



O stulta sanctitas, sancta stultitia ! 



The Squash-hug (Coreus tristis). 



This insect, which conceals itself during the winter in 

 the crevices of houses, walls, and the bark 



' ' Figure 20. 



of trees, makes its appearance in the open 

 air as soon as warm weather commences, 

 and takes up its abode, for the most part, 

 upon or under the leaves of squashes, 

 pumpkins, and other plants of the Gourd 

 tribe. It is also often seen upon the po- 

 tato vine and other herbaceous plants, and 



. The Squash-bug. 



toward the middle of summer it fastens its 

 eggs, with a gummy substance, upon the under sides of the 

 leaves of these plants. These eggs are soon hatched, and 

 the young, in company wath the old ones, proceed to suck 

 with thdr reflected snout the sap of those leaves and stems, 

 often causing the whole vine to wither and perish. 



The young ones, which are quite as voracious as their 

 parents, are furnished with wings in the autumn, and as 

 soon as the inclemency of the weather and the want of 

 food obliges them to do so, they fly away to take possession 

 of their winter-quarters, in the holes of walls, or the crev- 

 ices of houses and the bark of trees. 



These insects emit an odor, when touched or mashed, 

 very similar to that of the Bed-bug, and the wound they 

 inflict with their horny snout is fully as inflamed and 

 painful. 



There is no better remedy to prevent the injuries done 

 by these insects than to examine the squash and pumpkin 

 vines every day and destroy them ; for, to use the argu- 

 ment adduced in favor of capital punishment, if they are 



D 2 



