60 Trans. Acad, of St. Louis 



Bugs 



Tibicina septendecim [W. L. McAtee]. This cicada 

 can make an astonishing amount of commotion when it is 

 being carried off alive by a bird. Even so large a bird 

 as a robin has to pause frequently and pound it on the 

 ground with its beak to bring it to submission, the 

 cicada screeching frantically all the while. In early sum- 

 mer, the latter part of May, when the adults are newly 

 emerged and the chitin still soft, they often fall prey to 

 birds. By the middle of June, the population is usually 

 at its height, but hundreds of dead ones are to be seen 

 by the roadside and at the edge of the woods ; many of 

 these bodies give evidence of a death by violence. 



Phymata erosalAnn. [E. H. Gibson]. This ''ambush- 

 bug" was snugly hidden in the flowers of the goldenrod 

 while it devoured a fly, Ennyommopsus nigrifrons T. [C. 

 H. T. Townsend]. Had not the black fly been so con- 

 spicuous in the yellow flower, I should never have noticed 

 the episode. Another such bug was caught devouring a 

 honey-bee in a sweet-clover blossom. 



Alydus eurinus Say. [W. L. McAtee]. This bug was 

 mistaken for a wasp, Pompilus sp., and even picked up 

 for such as it ran about on a barren area, June 22, 1916. 

 Not only did its color in the sunshine strongly resemble 

 that of the wasp, but its manner of walking and of open- 

 ing and closing its wings were strangely deceiving. One 

 cannot understand this in looking at a dead, pinned 

 specimen. 



Lygus pratensis [W. L. McAtee]. On February 10, 

 1919 a twig was brought indoors, with this adult bug in 

 the tunnel. It was very lively, despite the time of year, 

 and flew about the lamp for an hour before it was cap- 

 tured. 



Trichopepla semivittata Say. [W. L. McAtee]. A pair 

 taken in copulo at St. Louis, July 26, 1915. 



Gerris remigis Say. [W. L. McAtee]. A few years ago 



