252 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



tion ouce taken, it is sometimes forced to seek better huntiug grounds, and takes to 

 its wings. The Wheel-bug has been observed to remain for days in the same ill- 

 chosen position, for instance upon the walls of a building, waiting patiently for 

 something to turn up. It is slow in all its motions, but withal very observant of 



Fig. 89. — Mantis Carolina : a, female ; b, male. 



everything occurring in its neighborhood, proving -without doubt great acuteness of 

 senses. It does not seem to possess any enemies itself, and a glance at its armor 

 will indicate the reason for this unusual exemption.* During warm weather this 

 bug possesses a good deal of very searching curiosity, and a thrust with its beak, 

 filled with poison, is very painful indeed. Boys call it the Blood-sucker, a misnomer, 

 since it does not suck human blood. The eggs are laid during the autumn in various 

 places, but chiefly upon smooth surfaces of the bark of tree-trunks, and frequently 

 in such a position as to be somewhat protected against rain by a projecting branch. 

 The female bug always selects places the color of which is like that of the eggs, so 

 they are not easy to see, notwithstanding their large size. 



Euschistus serviis Say is another hemipterous insect that preys upon the caterpillar 

 of H. cunea, and in a similar manner to the Wheel-bug, It is a much smaller, but 

 is also a very useful insect. 



Podisus apinosus Dall. (Fig. 90), in all its stages, was quite numerous during 

 the caterpillar plague. Its brightly-colored larvaj and pupte (Fig. 91) were usually 

 found in small numbers together; but 

 as they grew older they become more 

 solitary in their habits. All stages of 

 this insect frequent the trunk and 

 branches of trees, and are here act- 

 ively engaged in feeding upon various 

 insects. As soon as one of the more 

 mature larvae or a pupa has impaled 

 its prey, the smaller ones crowd about 



to obtain their share. But the lucky captor is by no means will- 

 ing to divide with the others, and he will frequently project his 

 beak forward, thus elevating the caterpillar into the air away from the others. The 

 habit of carrying their food in such a difficult position has perhaps been acquired 



' The eggs of the Wheel-bug are pierced, however, by a little egg-parasite— £«- 

 pelmus reduvii Howard. 



a h 



Fig. 90.— Podisus spi- 

 nosus : a, enlarged 

 beak ; 6, bu?, with right 

 wings expanded. 



Fig. 91. — Podisiis npino- 

 sus: a, pnpa; 6, larva, c> 

 egg. After Riley. 



