6 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1919. 



curred on Saddleback Mt. at any point above the level of the 

 meadow land or the growth of the timothy and other grasses 

 commonly occupied by the species. 



It is evidently safe to assign its distribution in the state 

 to all parts where suitable grasses occur and it may confidently 

 be expected to occur in all old meadow land where timothy 

 forms a part of the combination during the months of June, 

 July and August and search in the stems will be pretty sure 

 to disclose them as eggs during other months of the year. 



Economic Importance 



While, from the great numbers appearing in meadows and 

 the evident attack on the plants, it must be inferred that there 

 is serious injury to the crop there appears to be little to es- 

 tablish the amount of loss or to separate it from that due to 

 other species. In fact but few of the Capsidae have been given 

 much attention from the economic standpoint. The familiar 

 and cosmopolitan tarnished plant bug, Lygus pratensis, has been 

 known for years as a pest to many plants. In 1892 Dr. L. O. 

 Howard called attention to Oncognathus binotatus as "A New 

 Enemy to Timothy Grass." Dr. M. V. Slingerland has treated 

 the common four-lined plant-bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus) as a 

 pest of currants, Professor Popenoe the little Haltica bractatus 

 or uhleri as a garden pest of beans and the common C aloe oris 

 rapidus has been known for many years to affect the clover 

 crop. 



Some idea of the effects produced by the meadow plant 

 bug may be secured by noting the enormous numbers that are 

 hanging to the plants and especially to the heads during the 

 time the timothy is in bloom. Often a number may be seen 

 clinging to a single head, from three to five being not unusual. 

 The fact that they suck the bloom doubtless means a heavy 

 loss in seed or in weight and nutritive value of hay, although 

 there is little external evidence of injury. 



Evidence of injury based on the amount of hay per acre 

 where these insects are plenty as compared with fields where 

 they are absent suffers from the fact that so many different 

 insects are present and it is almost impossible to determine the 

 proportion to be charged to each. Judged merely by the num- 



