INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CABBAGE, ETC. 



331 



it is variously called, for the past generation. A native of 

 Mexico and Central America, it migrated into Texas about 1864 

 and then spread eastward along the Gulf Coast, and northward 

 until it reached Maryland and Virginia, about 1880, New 

 Jersey in the early 90's, and up the Mississippi Valley to southern 

 Ohio and Indiana by 1890. On the Pacific Coast it is found in 

 southern California and Nevada. Although it spread to Long 

 Island, N. Y., southern Pennsylvania, and northern Ohio, and 

 Indiana, its advance was checked by the cold winters of the late 



FIG. 281. Field of cabbage in Delaware ruined by the harlequin bug. 



90' s and it will probably never become very injurious north of 

 the Potomac and Ohio rivers. 



The appearance of the gayly colored bugs, shining black or 

 deep blue, marked with brilliant red or orange, as shown in 

 Fig. 280, is so distinctive that they are readily recognized, and 

 gives them the name of harlequin-bug or calico-back. They 

 are about one-half inch long, flattened, and the general shape 

 and markings have given them the local name of " terrapin 

 bug. ' ' The bugs suck the sap from the leaves of cabbage and other 

 crucifers, the plants wilting and dying, and turning black as if 



