197 



Fig. 198. A Leaf-footed Plant-bug, 

 Leptoglossus opposilus. Twice natural 

 size. (Chittenden, U. S. Dept. of Agri- 

 culture.) 



OTHER PLAXT-P^EEDIXf; IIETKROITERA. 

 The Leaf-footpjd Plaxt-hugs. 

 Leptoglossus. 

 The leaf-footed plant-bugs resemble the common squash-biig Ijut are 



somewhat larger, and the bases of the hind shanks are dilated into flat, 



leaf-like expansions. L. oppositus Say ranges from \'irginia to Kansas 



and southward to the Gulf, and is 



locally, though not generally, common 



in central Illinois. It prefers cucur- 



l)itaceous plants, especially their fruits, 



for food, but early in the season it is 



often found on fruit trees. Plums, 



peaches, cherries, apricots, grapes, and 



tomatoes suffer more or less, and green 



corn is frequently infested. L. phyllopus 



does not range so far north as its rela- 

 tive, being confined mostly to the states 



bordering on the (iulf. (Xir collection 



contains, however, two examples taken 



in Kansas. Its natural food plant is the 



yellow thistle, but a variety of orchard, 



garden, and field crops are eaten by it, 



including sorghum, wheat, and rice, so that its occurrence on com is to 



be expected. It is especially injurious to oranges and melons. 



L. oppositus (Fig. 198) has a pair of white dots above, one near the 



center of each ^^■ing-co ver ; phyllopus (Fig. 199) has a whitish cross-band 



in place of the dots. The.se insects 

 have the odor of the squash-bug, but 

 in a comparatively slight degree. Op- 

 positus was reported in 1886 as work- 

 ing in clusters of twenty or thirty on 

 yK^ 4^^^ ^^ stalks of corn in Virginia, and recently, 



X ^^Nvf^*^^ >>^^ ^^ ^^^^ successi\'e seasons, it was 



noticed there several times in corn 

 distant from other crops, on the stalks 

 and puncturing kernels "in the milk." 

 This insect appears to poison the 

 tissues at the point of puncture, caus- 

 ing in fruits a circular discoloration and 

 a distortion of growth. In 1896, at 

 Lincoln, 111., it was found by us July 



Fig. 199. A Leaf-footed Plant-bug, 0-7 • j. ~ 1 



Leptoglossus phyUopus. Twice natural ^i verv common ou apncots, peaches, 



size. (Chittenden, U. S. Dept. of Agri- i 1 j • 1 >^ 1 



culture.) and pluntLS, and w^as said to have oc- 



