14 BULLETIN 689^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRTCULTUBE. 



Writing from Winnfiekl, La., on December 8, 1914, Mr. C. P. Seab 

 stated that "it is this bug which attacks the hma and string bean as 

 well as the cowpea. The farmers tell me it is almost impossible to 

 have any kind of beans or peas on accomit of this bug. " 



February 2, 1917, Mr. John A. Creel wrote from Clapton, Ala., 

 regarding ''green bugs" that "attack peas of all varieties, velvet 

 beans, peanuts, sugar cane, squash, okra, butter beans, etc.," and 

 stated that "they attack any kind of grain or vegetable when in the 

 green stage. The vegetable or grain will, after being punctured, 

 become hard and dry, and good for nothing." 



FOOD PLANTS. 



Other writers have recorded Nezara viridula as feeding on beans, 

 cotton, cowpea, Gynandropsis pentapJiylla, hackberry, okra, maize, 

 mulberry, orange, peas, pepper, potato, rice, sugar cane, sunflower, 

 sweet potato, tomato, and turnip. We have taken it on a number 

 of these plants and, in addition, on Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, 

 collards, eggplant, globe artichoke, mustard, and radish. 



While little damage is recorded to some of the plants mentioned 

 and while it probably does not breed on all of them, it is a quite general 

 feeder. Watson (14) states that it " attacks nearly all garden plants." 

 Among vegetables the writer has found that serious injury is usually 

 to tomato, bean, Irish potato, sweet potato, and okra. In the late 

 f aU and early winter the various stages are often abundant on mustard 

 and turnip. They have also been observed congregated on the re- 

 maining green portions of okra plants after frost. It appears that 

 legumes are favored as food plants. Farmers sometimes complain 

 that the bugs greatly decrease the yield of seed of cowpeas by injuring 

 the developing pods. Other writers mention the species as a pest on 

 cotton and orange, and the records in the Bureau of Entomology, 

 mentioned above, indicate that it feeds also on cabbage^ corn, peanut, 

 squQ,sh, tobacco, and velvet bean. 



SEASONAL HISTORY AND HABITS. 



HABITS OF THE ADULT. 



The adults from the last generation of nymphs, some of which 

 m.ay be found feeding at Baton Rouge until late fall and early winter, 

 often congregated on mustard and turnip, usually seek hibernating 

 quarters. Rosenfeld (8) lists them among the insects taken from 

 Spanish moss in Louisiana during December and January. Mr. O. W. 

 RosewaU, professor of entomology at the Louisiana State University, 

 has informed the writer that he has taken adults during the winter 

 months under logs on batture land of the Mississippi River near 

 Baton Rouge. A few, however, may be found in the field during 



