THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



47 



the difference between the beaks of the cannibal 

 snb-group and tlie plant-feeding snb-gronps of 

 this family, Fig. 41 a gives a magnified view 

 of the beak of cm- insect seen fi-om below, and 

 Fig. 41 c a similarly magnified view of that of 

 a pla?\t-feeder belonging to the same family 

 (Muschistus punctipes, Say), which is so nearly 

 of the same size, shape and color as our canni- 

 bal friend, that at first sight many persons 

 would mistake one for the other. The Spiued 

 Soldier-bug, however, may be at once distin- 

 guished from all allied bugs, whether plant- 

 feeders or cannibals, by the opaque brown streak 

 at the transparent and glassy tip of its wing- 

 cases. 



Two years ago we were informed by our or- 

 nithological friend. Dr. Velie, that a good obser- 

 ver in Henry county. 111., had discovered that 

 the large brown Squash-bug {Coi-ens tristis, 

 DeGeer), depredated extensivel}' upon the larva 

 .of the Colorado Potato-bug. Wc said at the 

 time that tliis must be a mistake, because not a 

 single species of tills group {C'oreus family) is 

 known to be cannibal. "We can now understand 

 "how the mistake arose. No less than five per- 

 sons in South Illinois, to whom we showed a 

 specimen of tlie Spined Soldier-bug, said at 

 once: ""Wliy, that is nothing but a Squash- 

 bug." And yet in the eyes of an entomologist 

 the Squash-bug looks as diflercnt from the 

 Spined Soldier-bug as a cow does from a horse ! 

 That our readers may see the wide difference 

 between the two insects, we give bj' the side of 

 the wood-cut of the Spined Soldier-bug (Fig. 



41 &) a correct drawing of the Squash-bug (Fig. 



42 a), and of its beak (Fig. 42 b). 



The Spined Soldier-bug by no means pre\s 

 exclusively upon Potato-bugs. "We have caught 

 him in the spring of the year sucking the juices 

 of a wild bee {Andrena) half an inch long, and 

 carefully holding it out at arm's length all the 

 time, so as to avoid its sting. He also attacks 

 the green larvje of tlie native- American Goose- 

 berry Saw-fly {Prist iphora grossularia, AValsh), 

 as we learn from a very good observer. Miss 

 Marian Hobart, of Port Byron, 111. And both 

 Dr. Hull and Mr. Jonathan Huggins saw the 

 little hero with his beak plunged into the body 

 of a full sized Locust (Cicada), and draining 

 away its life-blood in spite of all its kickings 

 and strugglings. AVe are sorry, however, to be 

 obliged to confess that in Mr. Eiehl's potato 

 field near Alton, a single individual Avas seen in 

 June, 1868, bayoneting a poor Nine-marked La- 

 dybird (Fig. 37) with his blood-thirsty beak. 

 Perhaps, however, he was under the circum- 



stances excusable ; for he and his comrades had 

 almost completely cleared the potatoes of the 

 Colorado gentlemen, and he probably concluded 

 that the services of the Ladybird were no longer 

 required there. The Spined Soldier-bug is very 

 common everywhere in Illinois, Iowa and Mis- 

 souri, but occurs more frequently on trees than 

 on herbaceous plants. We caught eight or nine 

 of them in about half an hour off Dr. Hull's 

 fruit trees with his Curculio-catcher. Another 

 species of the same genus (Arma, near modesta , 

 Dallas) inhabits, in the larva and pupa states, 

 the nests of the Fall Web-worm {Hyplmntria 

 textor, Harris), and slaughters the defenceless 

 inhabitants without mercy. We have bred it 

 from the larva to the perfect state, feeding it 

 upon caterpillars. 



Another true Bug, that has been repeatedly 

 seen by Mr. Riehl, of Alton, preying upon the 

 Colorado larva, is the Bordered Soldier-bug 

 [Fig. 43.] (Stirethis Jimbriatus, Say, Fig. 

 43) . Unlike the Spiued Soldier- 

 bug, this species is so conspicu- 

 ously and prettily marked that 

 it cannot easily be confounded 



1'?W|||™S'with any other. We once met 

 V^m^C ^i*-'^ seven or eight individuals 

 in the web-nest of a small social 

 '^"'"S°"iln-S"r''" caterpillar, that occurred on a 

 weed; and we have seen it more than once with 

 its beak immersed in the body of the larva of the 

 Astcrias butterfly. It belongs to the same sub- 

 group, and has the same short, robust beak, as 

 the Spined Soldier-bug ; but, unlike that species, 

 it is by no means common. 

 Another true Bug, still more elegantly marked 

 [Fig. «.] than the preceding, 



the Many - banded 

 Kobber {IlariMctor 

 cinctus, Fabr., Fig. 

 44 a), was observed 

 by Dr. Shimer, of Mt. 

 Carroll, HI., to attack 

 the Colorado larvre, 

 and we have ourselves 

 found it attacking the 



Colura— Yellow, white, and black. SamC lai'Va ill MiS- 



souri the present year. Like the Spined Soldier- 

 bug, tills species is common, and inhabits trees 

 more commonly than herbaceous plants. But it 

 belongs to an entirely diftcrent group of the true 

 Bugs (Beduvius family), all of which, without 

 exception, are cannibals, and arc characterized 

 by a very short, robust, curved beak (Fig. 44 b, 

 profile view, magnified). We have noticed this 

 species to prey upon a great variety of differ- 

 ent insects. 



