REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 527 



appetite of the Wheel-bug is remarkable, whenever chances offer to 

 appease it to the fullest extent. Frequently, however, times go hard 

 with it, and notwithstanding it is very loath to change a position once 

 taken, it is sometimes forced to seek better hunting-grounds, and 

 takes to its wings. The Wheel-bug has been observed to remain for 

 days in the same ill-chosen i^osition — for instance upon the"walls of a 

 building — waiting patiently for something to turn up. It is slow in 

 all its motions, but withal very observant of everything occurring in 

 its neighborhood, proving without doubt great acuteness of senses. 

 It does not seem to possess any enemies itself, and a glance at its 

 armor will indicate the reason for this unusual exemption.* Dur- 

 ing warm weather this bug possesses a good deal of very searching 

 cariosity, and a thrust with its beak filled with poison is very painful 

 indeed. Boys call it the "blood-sucker," a misnomer, since it does not 

 suck human blood. Its eggs are laid during the autumn in various 

 places, but chiefly upon smooth surfaces of the bark of tree trunks, 

 and frequently in such a position as to be somewhat protected against 

 rain by a projecting branch. The female bug always selects places 

 the color of which is like that of the eggs, so that they are not easy 

 to see, notwithstanding their large size. 



Euschistus servus Say is another hemipterous insect that preys 

 upon the caterpillar of H. textor, and in a similar manner to the 

 Wheel-bug. It is a much smaller, but also a very useful insect. 



Podisus spinosus, Dall. , in all its stages, was quite numerous dur- 

 ing the caterpillar plague. Its brightly-colored larvae and pupae were 

 usually found in small numbers together, but as they grew older they 

 became more solitary in their habits. All stages of this insect fre- 

 quent the trunks and branches of trees, and are here actively engaged 

 in feeding upon various insects. As soon as one of the more mature 

 larvae or pupae has impaled its prey the smaller ones crowd about 

 to obtain their share. But the lucky captor is by no means willing to 

 divide with the others, and he will frequently project his beak forward, 

 thus elevating the caterpillar into the air away from the others. The 

 habit of carrying their food in such a difficult position has perhaps 

 been acquired simply to prevent others from sharing it. A wonder- 

 ful strength is necessary to perform such a feat, since the caterpillar 

 is soraetimes many times as heavy as the bug itself. The greediness 

 of this bug was well illustrated in the following observation : A 

 pupa of P. spinosus had impaled a caterpillar, and was actively en- 

 gaged in sucking it dry; meanwhile a Wheel-bug utilized a favorable 

 opportunity and impaled the pupa without forcing the same to let go 

 the caterpillar. The elasticity of the beak of these bugs must be 

 very great; they can bend it in any direction and yet keep it in suck- 

 ing operation. The poison contained in the beak must act very rap- 

 idly, since the caterpillars impaled by it squirm but a very short time 

 and then become q.uiet. 



FUNGUS DISEASE OF THE V^^EB-WORM. 



In our Fourth Missouri Entomological Report, p. 88, we called at- 

 tention to the fact that the fungus disease of the domestic Silk- worm, 

 called in France Muscardine, and supposed to be due to the develop- 

 ment in the worms of the fungus Botrytis bassiann, or a disease 

 which had not yet been distingui shed from it, had made its appearance 



*Its eggs, however, are pierced by a little egg-pavasite—Eupelmus reduvii Howard. 



