﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 4T 



but a sucker, I suppose. If they were there to Winter, it would be advisable to rake it 

 all off and destroy it in some way, but purslane dies hard as well as Chinch Bug. Coal 

 oil, though, will kill him as quick as licfhtning. 



As there is an account, with description, of this False Chinch Bug 

 in my 5th Report, it is only necessary to say in this connection that 

 the species is a very general feeder and in the Spring of the year does 

 much damage to many plants, such as young grape-vines, strawberries^ 

 potatoes, young apple grafts, but especially to plants of the Cabbage 

 family. It is especially fond of purslane, and at approach of Winter,, 

 congregates beneath it in immense numbers. Long after Jack Frost 

 has blackened and deadened all but the very butts of the plants, these 

 bugs may be found under them, runnmg actively about whenever the 

 sun is the least warm. They are found at this time of all ages, but 

 principally mature and in pairs, and it is doubtful if any but the 

 mature ones survive the Winter. 



All the reports — and such come sometimes from noteworthy 

 sources — of chinch bugs injuring herbaceous plants, vegetables and 

 vines, owe their origin to the confounding of this, the bogus, with the 

 true Chinch Bug;- for though the latter may occasionally be found 

 sheltering under purslane and other plants, it does not feed on any 

 other than those already indicated. 



The Insidious Flower-bug — Next to the preceding species, this 

 little fellow, already referred to (p. 41, ante) as preying on the Chinch 

 Bug, :s quite often mistaken for it, having somewhat similar colors,^ 

 and being so often associated with it. 



The Ash-gray Leaf-bug — This species {Piesma cinerea Say, Fig. 

 10), is also often mistaken for the great American grain pest. It is a 

 small greenish-gray bug, its size being about the same as that of the 

 Chinch Bug, though it is flatter, broader, with shorter legs, and lacks 

 altogether the conspicuous black and white markings which charac- 

 terize that little grain pest, and really resembles it in nothing but the 

 [Fig. 10.] unpleasant odor which it emits. It has been found 

 doing some damage to grape blossoms in early Springs 

 but is not otherwise very injurious, as it lives princi- 

 pally on forest shrubs and trees. The Ash-gray Leaf- 

 bug belongs to an entirely different group {Tingis fam- 

 ily) from the Chinch Bug, all the species of which have 

 a short 3 jointed beak, which however differs from that 

 of the 3 jointed beak of the Flower-bugs {Anthocoris} 

 bv being encased in a groove when not in use. They 



Ash-gray Leaf- 

 bug, mostly live on green leaves in all their three stages? 



