THE TRUE BUGS 



117 



FIG. 156. 



Lace-bug (Corythuca arcuata 

 adult, eggs, and nymph 



(After Comstock > United States Department of 

 Agriculture) 



Say), 



are most readily distinguished by the venation of the front wings, 



several of which are shown in Fig. 139, p. 107. 



The lace-bugs (Tingiti- 

 dae) are found commonly 

 on the leaves of bass- 

 wood, hawthorn, and 

 quince, occasionally in- 

 juring the latter. " One 

 glance at the fine white 

 meshes that cover the 

 wings and spined thorax 

 is sufficient," says Pro- 

 fessor Comstock, "to dis- 

 tinguish them from all 

 other insects, for these are 



the only ones that are clothed from head to foot in fine white 



Brussels net." They are small insects, about the size of plant-lice, 



and suck the juices of the 



leaves. The eggs are cov- 

 ered with a sticky sub- 

 stance and look like fungi 



on the undersurface of 



the leaf. 



The leaf -bugs (Capsidae) 



form the largest family of 



Heteroptera, having over 



two hundred fifty species 



in this country. One of 



the most common species 



is the tarnished plant-bug 



(Lygus pratensis}. This 



is yellowish- or greenish- FIG. 157. Tarnished plant-bug. (About four times 



natural size) 



<?, b, c, d, four stages of nymphs ; e, adult bug. (After 

 Forbes and Chittenden) 



brown in color, about 

 one fourth of an inch 

 long (Fig. 157), and at- 

 tacks a great variety of plants, being injurious to nursery trees, 

 sugar beets, strawberries, and various vegetables and flowering 

 plants, causing the tips of plants like the dahlia and potato to 



