BULLETIN 276 



THE MEADOW PLANT BUG * 



Herbert Osborn 



Research Professor of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State University, 

 and Consulting Entomologist, Maine Agricultural Experiment 



Station 



SUMMARY 



1. Miris dolabratus has been a conspicuous insect in tim- 

 othy meadows in portions of the eastern United States during 

 the past 40 years and now has a distribution as far west as 

 Illinois and Minnesota and south in the Mississippi valley into 

 Kentucky. 



2. It is believed to be an introduced species coming from 

 Europe with timothy hay or other large stemmed grass shipped 

 for forage or packing sometime between 1800 and 1825. 



3. It feeds upon cultivated grasses especially timothy, or- 

 chard grass and meadow fescue and when abundant must seri- 

 ously affect the value of the crop. 



4. It is a dimorphic species, there being two forms of 

 females, a long-winged and a short-winged form, the latter be- 

 ing far more plentiful, something like 90 per cent of all fe- 

 males. 



5. The species hibernates in the egg form, hatching oc- 

 curs about May 25th to June 10th in Maine, and the nymphs 

 pass through 5 instars of about 6 or 7 days each, adults oc- 

 curring from early July, mating and laying eggs from July 

 10th to August 1st for the short-winged forms necessarily in 

 the fields where the females have developed. 



*Papers from the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station : En- 

 tomology No. 101. This bulletin is based on a more detailed paper by 

 the same author, published under the title "The Meadow Plant Bug, 

 Miris dolabratus;" Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XV, No. 3. 



