78 INSECTS AFFECTING THE ORANGE. 



Tliese fragments consisted in great part of half-eaten scales, from which 

 the eggs and the Coccids had been extracted. 



Larva. — The caterpillars are about one-fourth inch long, dark purple 

 in color, with lines of lighter color in fine blotches along the sides. 



Piqm. — The chrysalis is sometimes formed upon the branches within a 

 cocoon of silk densely covered with scales, and sometimes concealed in 

 a dead, rolled leaf, or otherwise protected under fragments lodged in 

 spider-webs, &(!. It is dark brown in color, and of the usual form, with- 

 out striking peculiarities. 



Imago. — The moth is less than one-third inch in length, with rather 

 long wings ; head and thorax are ashen gray ; the upper wings are lus- 

 trous lead color, with silvery scales intermixed ; they are marked each 

 with a single distinct black spot near the base and a pair of faint dots 

 near the tip. The under wings are silvery gray, with the membrane 

 showing iridescent blue between the scales in the middle of the wing; 

 the antenna in one sex has the third joint thickened and curiously ex- 

 cised, the excavation covered with a tuft of long scales. 



History. — The larvae of this species have been observed only in the 

 fall and winter months, and the number of broods is not known. It may 

 be assumed to have three or four broods. Moths appeared in thirteen or 

 fourteen days from pupaj formed late in September. In December an(l 

 January they remained twenty days in pupa. • 



Two other moths of this famil3' ( Tiueidw) have been noted* as feeding 

 upon Coccids in Florida, but they were bred only from gall-iike Bark- 

 lice found upon Oak, and never occurring upon orange trees. 



INSECTS OF THE ORDER HEMIPTERA. 



The Spider-legged Soldiee-Bug {Leptocorisa tipuloides, Latr. ; 

 Plate YI, Fig. 4.) — This is a slender, long-legged bug. The color of the 

 body is orange-yellow, with a rounded s])ot of black upon the thorax ; 

 the legs, antennae, and tip of the beak are black ; the wings in the 

 adult have a band of black across the middle and an oval spot of 

 black covering the terminal half; the legs are covered with almost in- 

 visible, short, stiff hairs, which ca;ise small light objects to adhere to 

 them. The bodies of the young especially are covered with fragments, 

 consisting in great part of the pellicles of insects which have been 

 emptied of their contents by the bug. Length of the adult, -^^ inch. 



The habits of this bug are sluggish, but it Hies readily when adult. 

 It is found, often in great numbers, upon the Orange and other plants 

 when they are infested with the common Lecanium Scale {Lecaniiim hes- 

 pcrklum, Linn.). The bug sucks the juices of these soft- shelled Bark- 

 lice, but has never been observed to puncture the hard scales of the 

 Diaspiuie. Unfortunately the Leptocorisa <loes not discriminate be- 

 tween friends and foes, but destroys many predatory and useful insects. 



* Kept. Coram. Agric. for 1879, p. 244. 



