114 



FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



[Fig. 57.] 



The Bordered Soldier-bug.— This is another insect 

 which attacks the Colorado Potato-beetle. It belongs 

 to the same sub-group, and has the same kind of short 

 robust beak as the preceding, but unlike that species, it 

 is so conspicuously and prettily marked that it cannot 

 easily be confounded with any other. Its colors are dark 

 olive-green and cream-color, marked as in Figure 56. 

 It is not so common as the preceding species. 



The Many-banded Robber. — Another true bug, still more elegantly 

 marked than the preceding, (Rarpactor cinctus, Fabr.,) was observed 

 by Dr. Shinier, of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, to attack 

 the Colorado larva?, and I found it attacking 

 the same larva in our own State the present 

 year. Like the Spined Soldier-bug, this species 

 is common, and inhabits trees more commonly 

 than herbaceous plants. But it belongs to an 

 entirely different group of the true Bugs (Redu- 

 vius family), all of which, without exception, 

 are cannibals, and are characterized by a short, 

 (Fig. 57, b, profile view, magnified). Figure 57, 

 a, gives a magnified view of this bug, the colors being yellow, white 

 and black, and it may be known by the name of the Many-banded 

 Robber. 



a "> 6 



robust, curved beal 



The Rapacious Soldier-bug. — Still another bug belonging to the 

 very same group as the preceding (Reduvius raptatorius, Say), I 

 have found sucking out the juices of the Colorado lar- 

 va, and specimens were sent to me by S. H. Kriedel- 

 baugh, of Clarinda, Iowa, who found it with the same 

 commendable habit in that State. This bug is repre- 

 sented at Figure 58. It is of a light brown color, and 

 may be known by the name of the Rapacious Soldier- 

 bug. 



The above four insects are all of them true bugs, and attack the 

 larva? of the Colorado Potato-beetle with the only offensive weapon 

 that they have — their beak. The four following (Figs. 59 to 62) are all 

 beetles, and are consequently provided with jaws, so that they are able 

 to eat up their victims bodily ; and all of them, except the first, which i3 

 confined to southerly latitudes, are common throughout the Western 

 States. Most, if not all, of them prey indifferently upon the Colorado 

 larva and the perfect insect produced from it. 



