292 



THE AMERICAN 



The Tarnished Plant-bug is a very general 

 feeder, attacking very many kinds of herbaceous 

 plants, such as dahlias, asters, marigolds, bal- 

 sams, cabbages, potatoes, turnips, etc. ; and sev- 

 eral trees, such as apple, pear, plum, quince, 

 and cherry. Its puncture seems to have a pecu- 

 liarly poisonous eft'ect, on which account, and 

 from its great numbers, it often proves a really 

 formidable foe. It is especially hard on young 

 pear and quince trees, cansing the tender leaves 

 and the young shoots and twigs to turn black 

 as though they had been burned by tire. On old 

 trees it is not so common, though it frequently 

 congregates on such as are in bearing, and causes 

 the young fruit to wither and drop. I have 

 passed through potato -iields along the Iron 

 Mountain Railroad in May, and found almost 

 every stalk blighted and black fi-om the thrusts 

 of its poisonous beak, and it is not at all surpris- 

 ing that this bug was some years ago actually 

 accused of being the cause of the dreaded potato- 

 rot. 



This Bug is a very variable species, the males 

 being generally much darker than the females. 

 The more common color of the dried cabinet 

 specimens is a dirty yellow, variegated as in the 

 figure with black and dark brown, and one of 

 the most characteristic marks is a yellow V, 

 sometimes looking more like a Y, or indicated 

 by three simple dots, on the scutel (the little tri- 

 angular piece on the middle of the back, beliind 

 the thorax) . The color of the living specimens 

 is much fresher, and frequently inclines to olive- 

 green. The thorax, which is flnely punctured, 

 is always narrowly bordered and divided down 

 the middle with yellow, and each of the divisions 

 contains two broader longitudinal yellow lines, 

 very frequently obsolete behind. The thighs al- 

 ways have two dark bands orrings near their tips. 

 As soon as vegetation starts in the spring, the 

 matured bugs, which winter over in all manner 

 of sheltered places, may be seen collecting on 

 the various plants which have been mentioned. 

 Early in the morning they may be found buried 

 between the expanding leaves, and at this time 

 they are sluggish, and may be shaken down and 

 destroyed; but as the sun gets wiirmer, they 

 become more active, and when approached, dodge 

 from one side of the plant to the other, or else 

 take wing and fly away. They deposit their 

 eggs and breed on the plants, and the young and 

 old bugs together may be noticed through most 

 of the summer months. The young bugs are 

 perfectly green, but in other respects do not dif- 

 fer from their parents except in lacking wings, 

 they Mde between the flower-petals, stems and 

 leaves of different plants, and are not easily 



detected. Late in the fall, none but full grown 

 and winged bugs are to be met with, but whether 

 one or two generations are produced during the 

 season I have not fully ascertained, though in 

 all probability there are two. 



Remedies. — In the great majority of cases, we 

 are enabled to counteract the injurious work of 

 noxious insects the moment we thoroughly com- 

 prehend their habits and peculiarities. But there 

 are a few which almost defy our eftbrts. The 

 Tarnished Plant-bug belongs to this last class, 

 for we are almost powerless before it, from the 

 fact that it breeds and abounds on such a great 

 variety of plants and weeds, and that it flies so 

 readily from one to the other. Its flight is, how- 

 ever, limited, and there can be no better pro- 

 phylactic treatment than clean culture ; for the 

 principal damage is occasioned by the old bugs 

 when they leave their winter quarters and con- 

 gregate on the tender buds and leaves of young 

 fruit stock ; and the fewer weeds there are to 

 nourish them during the summer and protect 

 them during the winter, the fewer bugs there 

 will be. The small birds must also be encour- 

 aged. Applications of air-slacked lime and sul- 

 phur have been recommended to keep them oft" 

 but if any application of this kind is used, I 

 incline to think that, to be effectual, it must be 

 of a fluid nature ; and should recommend strong 

 tobacco-water, quassia-water, vinegar, and cre- 

 sylic soap. Some persons who have used the 

 last compound have complained that it injures 

 the plants, and every one using it should bear 

 in mind what was stated in the preface to my 

 First Report, namely, that the pure acid, no 

 matter how much diluted with water, vdW sep- 

 arate when sprinkled, and burn holes in, and 

 discolor plant texture ; while if properly used 

 as a saponaceous wash it will have no such in- 

 jurious effect. It must likewise be borne in 

 mind, that the so-called " plant-protector," which 

 is a soap made of the same acid, will bear very 

 much diluting (say one part of the soap to fltty 

 or even one hundred parts of water), and that 

 it will injure tender leaved plants if used too 

 strong. I have noticed that the bugs are ex- 

 tremely fond of congregating upon the bright 

 yellow flowers of the Cabbage, wliicli, as every 

 one knows, blooms very early in the season; and 

 it would be advisable for persons who have been 

 seriously troubled with this bug, and who live 

 in a sufficiently southern latitude where the plant 

 ^vill not winter-kill, to let a patch of cabbages 

 run wild and go to seed in some remote corner 

 of the farm, in order that the bugs may be at^ 

 tracted thither and more readily destroyed than 

 when scattered over a larger area. 



