79 



'2. The Lesser Strawberry Plant Louse. 



{Sl2:>Jio>i02)hora minor, Forbes.) 



Order Hemiptera. Family Aphidid.e. 



This species, first described last year from strawberry plants at 

 Normal, has been, observed during the last season, throughout the 

 central and southern part of the State, from Bloomington and 

 Champaign to Alton and Centralia. It was first noticed this year, 

 April 17, on strawberry plants at Normal, only the wingless form 

 occurring at that time. It was collected at Centralia, August 6, and 

 at Alton as late as September 25, at which time it still occurred 

 only upon "the under sides of the leaves. It has not thus far done 

 any appreciable injury as far as known. 



3. The Tarnished Plant Bug. 



{Li/gns lineolaris, Beauv.) 

 Order Hemiptera. Family Capsid.^. 



(Plate VII. Fig. 2; and Plate VIII.) 



This species, treated as a strawberry insect at considerable length 

 in my last year's report, has been carefully observed this season,'to 

 determine some unsettled points respecting its life history and its 

 injuries to the strawberry. Our notes began April 1, when Mr. 

 Webster was sent to Southern Illinois to collect the facts relating 

 to the life history of this species in spring. At this time he found 

 the adult abundant among the young and tender leaves of mullein, 

 both in strawberry fields and elsewhere, — not down among the older, 

 lower leaves, where they would naturally have resorted if in search 

 of warmth and protection only. That they were feeding upon the 

 plant was shown by the abundance of greenish Huid with which 

 their bodies were distended. Very few specimens were found except 

 those upon these plants. 



On the 4th April a pair were taken in copula, and on the 7th I 

 dissected eggs from the ovary of the female, seemingly fully de- 

 veloped. On the 2d, large numbers of the adults from Southern 

 Illinois were fed with strawberry plants and mullein in a breeding 

 cage at the Laboratory, in the hope of obtaining their eggs and de- 

 termining their breeding habits. They resorted chiefly to the mul- 

 lein, but soon commenced to die from some cause not determinable, 

 both males and females perishing rapidly. On the 17th a pair of 

 these were seen in coitu, and on the 18tli the plants contained in 

 the cage were thoroughly searched for eggs, but without success. 

 On the 22d I saw and watched for some time a specimen on the 

 under side of a half-open strawberry leaf, with its beak inserted in 

 the midrib, evidently feeding upon the plant, and this observation 

 was repeated next day, the plant bug now piercing the petiole of a 

 fully-expanded leaf. 



Description of Egg. — On the 26th April, careful search was again 

 made of the strawberry plants in the cage, and a single egg was 



