80 PLANT-BUGS INJURIOUS TO COTTON BOLLS. 



which have been reported as injured by the green soldier-bug: 

 Beans, cabbage, corn, cotton, peaches, and okra. 



At Amherst, Mass., the writer has found nymphs of this species 

 on maple trees and both nj^mphs and adults on European linden. 

 The trees of the species last mentioned were fruiting and the bugs 

 were breeding on them in unusually large numbers, feeding almost 

 exclusively on the fruit. At Llano, Tex., he has found these insects 

 feeding on the seed-pods of mesquite growing in close proximity to 

 cotton fields. 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



Specific records which are available indicate that eggs are depos- 

 ited by the green soldier-bug in batches averaging a larger number 

 of eggs than is the case with either the conchuela, the grain bug, or 

 the brown cotton-bug. The eight batches which have come under 

 the writer's observation averaged 40 eggs per batch, ranging from 

 27 to 52. A female specimen which died in the laboratory was 

 found on dissection to contain 53 fully developed eggs. 



The period of incubation of the eggs of this species has never been 

 determined, but it is safe to assume that it is practically the same 

 as that of the other Pentatomids investigated in the preparation 

 of this report. Sanderson records the developmental period from the 

 hatching of the eggs to the appearance of the adult in September 

 and October, 1904, as 39 days, the observation being made in northern 

 Texas, and the inclusive period from September 2 to October 11. 

 Three adults, taken in a cotton field on October 19, 1905, lived in the 

 laboratory until December 1, when they were used in a hibernation 

 test under out-of-door temperatures. All three specimens were 

 alive on December 19, but on March 8 two were dead, while the 

 third had escaped from the cage in which the specimens had been 

 confined. 



The green soldier-bug, in cases heretofore recorded and in all cases 

 which have come under the writer's observation, has shown a prefer- 

 ence for the cotton bolls, as have other cotton-infesting Pentatomids. 

 The insect does not^ .however^ confine its attacks to the seed and 

 fruit of its food plants, as reliable reports state that pea vines, orange 

 twigs and leaves, and cabbage leaves have been attacked to the 

 extent of causing serious damage. It has long been known that 

 this species is sometimes predaceous, and owing to the lack of an 

 adequate understanding of the nature of the injury to cotton due 

 to plant-bugs, many have inferred that the good accomplished 

 through the destruction of caterpillars outweighed the injury result- 

 ing from the bugs' feeding on the plant. This is far from representing 

 the true status of the insect in the cotton field, for on the whole the 

 predaceous habit is exceptional, and beyond occasionally diverting 



