J02 OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



ochreous brown, has a yellow Y-shaped mark on the scutel, and two 

 or three parallel dark veins on each wing cover. The larvae of these 

 bugs are green, and broad oval in form. They may be found during 

 summer in great abundance in all stages of development upon flowers. 

 They injure fruit trees in the spring by puncturing the leaf and flower 

 buds and the tender twigs and sucking the sap. They also feed on 

 berries, to which they impart a flavor as nauseous as their odor. 



Another abundant member of this family is the Four-lined Leaf- 

 bug (Pcecilocapsus lineatusj. This is somewhat larger than the pre- 

 ceding species, is of a deep yellow color, ornamented with four black 

 lines, extending the whole length of the body. It feeds on various 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants, and is at times seriously destructive to 

 currant bushes, clover and other valuable plants. 



The CORIMEL^ENID^E contains but a single genus, the "Negro-bugs" 

 (Gorimelcena), small, shining, almost round, beetle-like insects of a 

 black color, sometimes with bluish or greenish reflections. The great 

 peculiarity is the depth of the scutellum, which extends backward so 

 far as to entirely cover the wings. These little bugs are sometimes 

 very destructive on strawberry beds and on the foliage of various 

 flowering plants. They also have a great predilection for ripe raspber- 

 ries, to which they give their own disagreeable, bed-buggy odor and 

 flavor. 



Among the cannibal bugs the most important families are the 

 PENTATOMID^, EEDUVIAD^E and AOANTHIIN^E. 



In the first of these groups we find many species of flattened, 

 short, oblong bugs, somewhat under medium size, having the large 

 scutellum extended backward in a rather slender point. The head 

 and pro thorax together form an obtuse angle, there being no constric- 

 tion to form a neck; the antennae are five-jointed and the thighs are 

 but slightly broadened and not spiny; the beak is stout. Although 

 the great majority of the species are predaceous, and rank among use- 

 ful insects, we find among them one serious pest. This is the Harle- 

 quin Cabbage-bug (Murgantia histrionica, Hahn.), a notorious exception 

 to the rule, being very destructfve, in the Middle and Southern States, 

 to the vegetable from which it gets its popular name. It is a hand- 

 some insect, as bugs go (See Fig, 40), of a polished black color, with 

 the scutel margined and the wing covers crossed by stripes of bright 

 red or orange, and with two distinct white spots on the head ; beneath, 

 it is marked by lines of yellow dots. Dr. Eiley says the eggs " may be 

 likened to little barrels, for though the sides are straight, the edges 

 are rounded off, and the black bands recalling the hoops, and a black 

 spot near the middle recalling the bung-hole, add to the resemblance." 



