1'tAN'r BtGS. 



235 



are predaceous on occasion, but practically any bug with a curved beak is 

 predaceous and therefore useful. It is unnecessary to mention a large 

 number of species of bugs, the examples dealt with above being sufficient. 

 The mosquito blight of tea is perhaps the best known in India. Coffee 

 berries in the Nilgiris are sucked 

 by a small brightly coloured 

 plant bug 1 which is common 

 also in Ceylon. The potato 

 plant is the favourite food-plant 

 of the Green Bug, 2 a widely dis- 

 tributed pest (fig. 190, page 168). 

 Mustard and rape are the food- 

 plants of the Painted Bug, 3 a 

 small brightly coloured species 

 very abundant in the plains 

 (fig. 278). Maize, sorghum and 

 millets are found to harbour a 

 bug,* coloured in grey, brown 

 and black, which infests the 

 heads but does no harm (fig. 

 277). A closely similar species 6 

 with sharp spines on the edges 

 of the thorax is common in the 

 crops but is apparently wholly 

 predaceous. 



The betel vine is infested with a slender reddish bug, 6 which flies from 

 leaf to leaf and feeds by sucking the epidermis on the lower side. Where 

 it sucks, a spot is formed which in time decays and spoils the leaf. This 

 is a more serious pest, the loss to the crop being a large one in many 

 cases. In Lower Bengal the Giant Red Bug 7 is believed to be a pest, 

 probably on account of its very vivid colouring, but it is not known 

 seriously to injure any crop. 



A small greenish bug is commonly found upon the heads of the cholani 

 (xorghuni) and cumbu (bajra) in South India, sucking the milky grain 

 (fig. 282) . This is not an unusual form of injury, but it is rarely reported ; 

 in parts of South India it appears to be particularly common and the 



1 207. Antestia cruciata. F. (Pentatomidse.) 



2 223. Nezara mridula. L. (Pentatomidse.) 

 8 169. Bagrada picta. F. (Pentatomidse.) 



4 224. Agonoscelis nubila. F. (Pentatomidse.) 



5 G. 116. Cantheconafurcellata. Wolff. (Pentatomidse.) 



6 25. Disphinctus p. (Capsidse.) 



1 1236. Lohita grandis. Gr. ( Py rrhocoridse.) 



FIG. 281. 

 The Giant Red Bug. (From Distant.) 



