46 



CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE. 



Family Capsidae (Leaf-bugs). This is the largest of any of the fam- 

 ilies of true bugs, including more than two hundred species in the 

 United States alone. Most of the members live upon leaves of plants, 

 but some of them are predaceous and prey upon other insects. In this 

 family we find the tarnished plant-bug, the four-lined leaf-bug, and 

 many other of our injurious species. 



Family Pyrrhoeoridae ( Red-bugs). Insects belonging to this family 

 are usually large in size, stoutly built and marked with strongly con- 

 trasting colors, in which red and black are conspicuous. The cotton- 

 stainer is a member of this family, and has earned an unenviable 

 notoriety from its habit of puncturing and discoloring the opening 

 bolls of the cotton plant. This bug is a serious pest in Florida, where 

 it pierces the rind of oranges, causing decay to s.et in. 



Family Lygseidse (Chinch-bugs). This is another large family, com- 

 prising nine subfamilies and a hundred and fifty species in the United 

 States. The chinch-bug is the representative of the 

 family, and probably the most destructive member 

 of it. This is a rather small bug, but its destruction 

 in the United States each year will run into many 

 millions of dollars. It has two broods a year, and 

 appears in enormous numbers, attacking the stems 

 of grain and grass. While we have this insect in 

 California, it has never been so destructive as in 

 the Mississippi Valley, due probably to the custom 

 which prevails here of burning over the stubble in 

 the grain fields after harvest, by which means these 

 insects are destroyed by millions and their increase 

 prevented. In this family, too, we find the false 

 chinch-bug, a very common insect here, and which somewhat resem- 

 bles the true chinch-bug, but is never so numerous or destructive. 



Family Berytidse (Stilt- 

 bugs). This is a small fam- 

 ily of land bugs, in which the 

 legs, body, and antennae are 

 all very slender. They re- 

 semble the crane-fly in gen- 

 eral build, and are found in 

 the undergrowth of woods 

 and pastures. 



FIG. 43. Chinch-hug 

 (Blissus leucopterus). 

 Enlarged. 



FIG. 44. False chinch-bug (Nysius angustalus). 

 Enlarged. 



Family Coreidse (Squash-bugs). This is another large family, and 

 is divided into many subfamilies and species. The family comprises 

 both carnivorous and vegetable-feeding forms, and in some cases 



