88 PLANT-BUGS INJUKIOUS TO COTTON BOLLS. 



INSECTS OF THE SQUASH-BUG FAMILY (COREIDiE^ INJURIOUS 



TO COTTON. 



THE LEAF-FOOTED PLANT-BUGS. 



(Leptoglossus phjUopus L., L. oppositus Say, and L. zonatus DalL) 



A review of the economic status of the northern leaf-footed plant- 

 bug (Leptoglossus oppositus Say) and the banded leaf-footed plant- 

 bug (Leptoglossus pJiyllopus L.) was presented by Dr. F. H. Chittenden 

 in an early bulletin of this series.'^ In a later bulletin a more ex- 

 tended account of the former species, including description of all 

 the immature stages and observations on the life history and habits, 

 was given by the same author.^ Both of these species are com- 

 monly found in greater or less abundance in cotton fields throughout 

 the various cotton-growing States. L. zonatus Ball, is of compara- 

 tively rare occurrence in the United States, and probably for this 



reason no record of its attacking cotton 

 in this country is available, although 

 the author has noted its injury to cot- 

 ton bolls in Mexico, where it is more 

 abundant.^ 



Leptoglossus phyllopus L. 



Leptoglossus phyllopus (PL I, fig. 6; 

 text fig. 19) is the most common species 

 of the leaf-footed plant-bugs found in 

 cotton fields. Doctor Chittenden has 

 recorded its principal cultivated food 

 plants, showing it to be an almost om- 

 nivorous plant feeder and one likely 

 Fig. i9.-The leaf-footed plant-bug (Lepto- to causc scrious local damage to many 



glossus phyllopus): Adult. Twice natural crODS, both fruit and VCO^etablc. Asll- 

 size. (After Hubbard.) ^ / . ,. i • i 



mead, m recordmg his observations 

 made in July, 1893,^ mentioned the insect as of common occurrence 

 in cotton fields in Mississippi, sometimes as many as 3 or 4 together 

 being observed on a single boll. 



About 20 adults of this species were observed by the writer on a 

 single cotton plant near Mason, Tex., on October 20, 1905. They 

 began to take wing when the writer was quietly watching from a 

 distance of several feet and in less than a minute only 2 or 3 speci- 

 mens remained. On the whole, however, these bugs were not 

 very numerous in the locality named, not exceeding, on the average, 



«Bul. 19, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., pp. 44-48, 1899. 

 b Bui. 33, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., pp. 18-25, 1902. 

 cBul. 54, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 33, 1905. 

 d Insect Life, Vol. VII, p. 320, 1895. 



