236 



INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



viously reported as a pest of cotton, though its injury had never 

 been general. It punctures the squares and bolls, either causing 

 them to drop or making the bolls shrivel or decay when punctured. 

 The feeding punctures in the bolls are indicated by small black 

 spots, resembling diseased places, which gradually become larger 

 and sunken, evidently due to some poisonous substance intro- 

 duced by the beak of the insect as it sucks the juices of the boll. 

 The bugs may be readily recognized from Fig. 197, and by the 

 bright red spots just beyond the middle of the wing. The young 

 are light green marked with red. Several generations of the insect 

 occur annually, but its life history and habits are still unknown, 

 and no means of combating it have been devised. 



Other Plant-bugs * 



Several other species of plant-bugs do considerable injury 

 by sucking the bolls and "causing them to shrink or decay. 



FIG. 198. The green soldier-bug (Nezara hilaris): a, adult; 6, beak; c, eggs. 

 d, end of egg more enlarged; e, young nymph; /, last stage of nymph. 

 (After Chittenden, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



Among these are the so-called " pumpkin-bugs " or "stink-bugs," 

 of which a large green species f is the most commonly injurious, 

 while the blackish, leaf -footed plant-bugs,! which are more abun- 

 dant on cucurbs, do similar injury. 



* See A. W. Morrill, Plant-bugs Injurious to Cotton Bolls. Bulletin 86, 

 Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



f Nezura hilaris Say. Family Pentatomidoe. 

 | Leptoglossus oppositus Say. Family Cortidce. 



