ie CHINCH-BUG FAMILY. 
are rather beneficial, as they are strictly weed-feeders, preferring 
as food such plants as purslane, chenopodians and amarantus. 
A superficial comparison of these bugs with the true chinch- 
bug illustrated elsewhere will show that the insects are quite 
different, not alone as adults, but also in their earlier stages. 
Both, however, possess the characteristic chinch-bug odor, hence 
the mistake. 
Myodocha serripes Oliv., shown in Fig. 64, also belongs to 
this sub-family. It can be recognized by its long and narrow 
shape, with the head attached to a long and slender neck, which 
ends in a bell-shaped prothorax. The femora of the front legs 
Fic. 64.—Myodocha serripes Oliv. Fic. 65.—Geocorus bullatus Say. 
Original. After Bruner. 
are swollen in the middle, and are armed with a number of teeth 
of unequal length on the under side. The insect is black, with 
the margin, sutures, veins, and some spots on the wing-covers, 
the tip of the scutellum, and the legs, pale yellow. It is about 
one-third of an inch in length, and is quite common in some 
places, but chiefly among stones and rubbish of all kinds, where 
it finds suitable shelters in which to pass the winter. “It is 
rendered very comical by the swinging of the long antenne with 
their thickened apical joint, while running over the ground among 
stones and rubbish of its favorite haunts. Meadows and rich 
soils in thin woods furnish it with needed shelter, and there it 
