SB 

 818 

 C578 

 ENT 



Circular No. 10. Second Series. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



THE HARLEQUIN CABBAGE BUG, OR CALICO BACK. 



(Murgantia liistrionica Hahn.) 



GENERAL APPEARANCE AND METHOD OF WORK. 



The harlequin cabbage bug, or calico hack, is an oval, somewhat flattened 

 black hug, with bright red and yellow markings arranged as shown in the figure, 

 which lives all the year round in the more southern United States upon cabbage, 

 mustard, radish, and other cruciferous 

 plants, puncturing the leaves with its beak 

 and causing them to wither and dry. The 

 smaller bugs are much like the larger ones, 

 but lack wing covers, while the eggs, of 

 the shape and appearance indicated in the 

 figure, are laid upon the undersides of the 

 leaves. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



This insect was originally an inhabitant 

 of Mexico and Central America. It ap- 

 peared in Texas in 1866, and gradually 

 spread from year to year to the north and 

 cast. It made its first appearance in 

 Missouri in 1870, and during the next ten 

 years spread very rapidly. In 187(5 it was 

 reported to have been found as far north 

 as Delaware, while from 1880 to 1884 it was very injurious in restricted localities 

 in Maryland, and it has been reported from south New Jersey by Dr. John B. Smith. 

 While its spread has taken place as reported, it is by no means found in all 

 localities in the States affected, and many new occurrences have been reported to 

 us within very recent years from the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. The 

 insect is not likely to spread north of the regions known as the upper austral. 



HABITS AM) NATURAL HISTORY. 



The eggs are about one-twentieth of an inch Long by one-thirtieth of an inch 

 wide, and are usually deposited in two parallel rows of about half a dozen each. 

 They are at first green in color, but soon become white with black markings, re- 

 sembling small white barrels with black hoops. 



Murgantia histrionica : o, young ; 6, half 

 grown; c, egg cluster; d, same from side; 

 e, same from above;/, adult, wings Closed ; 

 g, same, wings open ; c, /, g r natural size; 

 a, b, slightly enlarged; d, e, considerably 

 enlarged. (From Riley.) 



