ELEMENTARY ENTOMOLOGY 



a 



FIG. 151. Phymata wolfii. (Enlarged) 



a, b, side and back views ; <r, front leg ; d, 



beak. (After Riley, United States Department 



of Agriculture) 



around barns and sheds, where they are said to rob spiders' webs 

 of their prey. The damsel-bugs (Nabidae) frequent flowers and 

 vegetation, feeding on any small insects they may conquer. The 

 blond damsel-bug (Coriscus ferus) is of a light yellowish color, with 



numerous brown dots, and is 

 often taken in sweeping grass 

 with a net. The other most 

 common species, the black 

 damsel-bug (Coriscus subcole- 

 optratus), receives its specific 

 name from the fact that at first 

 glance it closely resembles a 

 beetle, the wings being mere 

 rudiments and the body shin- 

 ing black, with yellowish legs. 

 A single species (Phymata wolfii) of the ambush-bugs (Phymati- 

 dae) is found very commonly lurking in the flowers of the golden- 

 rod. It is yellowish or greenish in color, with a broad black band 

 across the abdomen, and the front legs are strongly developed for 

 grasping, so that it is able to overpower much larger insects. The 

 bedbug and its relatives the flower-bugs (Acanthidae) are also 

 predacious. The former is too well 

 known to need description, and an- 

 other similar wingless form attacks 

 swallows, bats, pigeons, etc. The 

 flower-bugs have well-developed wings 

 and lurk in blossoms, where they at- 

 tack small insects. 



The stink-bugs, or shield-shaped 

 bugs (Pentatomidae), are a large fam- 

 ily readily distinguished by their 

 shape, and, with two or three nearly 

 related but small and unimportant families, may be distinguished 

 from other terrestrial Heteroptera by having antennae of five seg- 

 ments instead of four. The term "stink-bug" is not definite, for 

 many other families have very characteristic " buggy " odors, but 

 as these insects frequently attack berries, which retain their odor, we 

 have become better acquainted with this disagreeable characteristic 



FIG. 152. 



a, nymph ; i 



Bedbug. (Enlarged) 



, adult, with outstretched 

 beak 



