68 RED BUGS. 
reddish legs and a bright red spot at the base of the abdomen. 
The insects seem to feed mainly upon other insects, and they 
have been found to be very useful in California by eating the 
destructive cottony cushion scale, at one time threatening to 
destroy entirely the orange groves of that state. 
Dysdercus suturellus H. Schf. (The Cotton-stainer), illus- 
trated in Fig. 59, is a southern insect which does much injury 
by piercing the stems and bolls of the cotton-plant and sucking 
the juices, but causes even more damage by staining the cotton 
Fic. 59a.—Dysdercus suturellus H. Schf.:*a, fourth stage, or pupa; b, adult—both 
enlarged. Aiter Insect Life, Div. of Entomology, Dep. of Agriculture. 
in the opening bolls. In Florida these bugs puncture the rind 
of oranges, which causes them to decay, so that the fruit drops. 
The insect is oblong-oval in form, of a red color; wing-covers, 
an arc at the base of the prothorax, and the scutellum, are pale 
brown. The costal margin of the wing-covers, a narrow line 
bordering the base of the membrane, extending diagonally across 
the clavus, are pale yellow. 
Prof. Comstock writes that these insects can be trapped by 
laying chips of sugar-cane around the cotton fields. In orange 
groves heaps of cotton seeds as well as pieces of sugar-cane will 
be found useful, as the insects will collect in these places and 
can be scalded to death. 
