LEAF-BUGS. 55 
proportions and light elegance of form, as well as by the natural 
ease of their quick motions. Many of these insects are soft 
and tender, with legs and antenne easily detached, while others 
are tougher, more compact, and have a crustaceous outer in- 
tegument. The antenne are either thread-shaped, taper very 
slender to the tip, or have the last joint a little thickened; these 
organs are generally long and four-jointed in all the species. 
They are usually of medium or small size, but include so many 
differences of shape, that it is impossible to draw them all into 
one common formula. The most readily observed character is 
found in the structure of the wing-covers (see illustration), 
Upper wing of Capsidz. 
which are almost always complete, possessing clavus, corium, 
cuneus, and membrane; at the base of the latter are one or two 
cells; otherwise it is without veins. The ocelli are either want- 
ing, or are so minute that they can not be detected without special 
preparation for the microscope.” 
Only a few of the numerous species can be described, which 
live chiefly upon the leaves of plants, from which they draw 
their liquid food; some kinds, however, are predaceous. 
Lygus pratensis Linn. (The Tarnished Plant-bug). 
This insect is a very destructive one, and injuriously affects 
a large number of cultivated plants, among them the straw- 
berry and sugar-beets; elsewhere the pear and other fruit-trees 
are attacked. Prof. Saunders, in his exccllent book, “Insects 
Injurious to Fruit,’ describes it as follows: 
“Tt passes the winter in the perfect state, taking shelter 
among rubbish, or in other convenient hiding-places, and early 
in May, as soon as vegetation starts, it begins its depredations. 
Concealing itself within the young leaves of the expanding buds 
of the pear, it punctures them about their base and along the 
edges, extracting: their juice with its beak. The puncture of 
