OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS 

 OF PILOPHORUS WALSHII UHLER. 



B. B. Fulton. 

 New York Agricultural Experiment Station. Geneva, New York. 



For several summers my attention has been attracted by 

 the large numbers of a species of black bug in a neglected apple 

 orchard near Geneva. Specimens sent to Mr. E. P. Van Duzee 

 were kindly identified as Pilophorus walshii Uhler, of the family 

 Miridae. 



One of the most noticeable peculiarities of the insect is 

 its superficial resemblance to a large black species of ant and 

 to the nymphs of a Jassid, Idioceriis provancheri Van Duzee, both 

 of which are commonly found on the same trees. The color 

 of the nymphs and adults is a dark reddish brown, almost black. 

 The nymphs have a white transverse band near the base of the 

 abdomen; and in the fourth and fifth instars there is a similar 

 one along the posterior edge of the pronotum. The adults 

 have a white transverse band across the middle of the wings, 

 an incomplete white band at the edge of the wings one-fourth 

 way from the base, and a white spot on each side of the 

 scutellum. 



During the summer of 1917 the first specimens were found 

 on July 5 and the oldest of these were in the third instar. By 

 the middle of July all stages of the insect were present, but 

 nymphs of the third and fourth instars were the least plentiful. 

 This circumstance seemed to indicate the existence of two over- 

 lapping generations, but a comparison with the life history 

 of related insects makes it appear more probable that this 

 condition was the result of a prolonged hatching period. Early 

 in August adults became more numerous, while there was a 

 corresponding decrease in the earlier nymphal stages. From 

 then on the numbers of the insects began to decline so that 

 on September 4 only a few adults could be found, and by Sept. 

 15 they were absent from the trees entirely. 



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