70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



occasional local depredations are committed. It is possible that the 

 insects could be driven from valued fruit trees by the use of long 

 switches, jarring or even the employment, when weather conditions 

 are favorable, of a dense smoke. It is better to attempt some such 

 method than to destroy the beetles by hand picking or the use of 

 poisons. The latter can not be used with safety upon trees in 

 bloom, to say nothing of its being against the law. 



Juniper plant bug (Chlorochroa uhleri Stal.) . This 

 large, olive green stink bug with pinkish markings is easily recognized 

 and usually rare, though in June 1894 it was reported from Brock- 

 port as having nearly destroyed a crop of peaches. Several years 

 ago the writer was surprised to find some eight or ten of these striking 

 bugs on a small pine tree at North Chatham, and the past summer 

 reports of the unprecedented abundance of this insect, accompanied 

 by serious injury, were received from Miss M. A. Soule, Quaker 

 Street, Schenectady county. Miss Soule states that the bugs were 

 so thick that the sunflower seeds were practically destroyed (hundreds 

 being on one head). They injured green corn and blasted small 

 peas while still within the pods, the insects evidently piercing the 

 pods and drawing the sap direct from the seeds, thus preventing a 

 normal development. Tomatoes were also injured and turned black 

 at the point of attack within a few days, fully half the crop being 

 affected. Quantities of ctirrants and black berries were likewise 

 spoiled. Others in that section were similarly troubled, it was stated. 



Miss Soule kindly forwarded a number of living bugs and we 

 were able to verify her reports so far as com and tomatoes were 

 concerned. The insects repeatedly established themselves upon the 

 surface of a tomato, and after a time the slender, chitinous lancets 

 were forced into the fruit to their full extent, the ensheathing labium 

 folding back near its middle as the head is pushed down, until the 

 lower margin touched the surface of the fruit. One bug remained 

 over a feeding puncture twenty-seven minutes, repeatedly raising 

 and lowering its head as it partly withdrew or forced the lancets into 

 the fruit. When the latter occurred, the lancets were supported 

 only by the tip of the labium and the tissues which they pierced. 

 The next day the .fruit would show an oval, slightly sunken area 

 about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, the center being marked 

 by a minute puncture. This injured spot became more visible 

 the second day, and later exhibited some discoloration. A similar 

 injury was also observed to kernels of sweet corn in the milk. 



The Juniper plant bug was by far the most abundant species con- 

 cerned in this injury, though a related form, Euschistus 



