INSECTS OF THE CHINCH BUG FAMILY. 



93 



field near Victoria, Tex., on the night of October 1, 1897,* while Pro- 

 fessor Sanderson reports 6 as the maximum number of the bugs col- 

 lected at a single trap lantern at Terrell, Tex., in July, 1906. 



Under date of July 7 and August 10, 1898, the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology received from Mr. J. D. Mitchell specimens of a Capsid known 

 to science by the name of Psallus delicatus UhL, which was reported 

 to occur on cotton in large numbers at Victoria, Tex., and to be very 

 destructive to the young bolls. 



INSECTS OF THE CHINCH BUG FAMILY (LYG^IDiE) INJURIOUS 



TO COTTON. 



The false chinch bug {Nysius angustatus Ulil.) has been reported 

 injurious to cotton in Texas and Louisiana by Professor Sanderson,^ 

 and in Mississippi by Prof. G. W. Herrick.^ The attack of these 

 insects is for the most part directed toward the young plants before 



Fig. 23.— The cotton leaf-bug ( Ca/ocom rapidus): a, Adult; 6, young nympli; 

 c, fourth instar of nymph; d, fifth instar of nymph. Much enlarged. (From 

 Sanderson.) 



the appearance of the fruit, and the insects should not properly be in- 

 cluded in dealing with plant-bugs injurious to cotton bolls. 



Two large Lygseids, Oncopeltus fasciatus Dall. and Lygseus tur- 

 cicus Fab., were common on cotton at Tlahualilo, Durango, Mexico, in 

 July, 1905, and young of both species were found feeding on alfalfa. 

 They have been observed to attack both cotton squares and bolls. 

 In the collection of cotton insects taken in Texas and surrounding 

 States by the agents of the Bureau of Entomology connected with 

 the cotton boll weevil investigations, only the second species is repre- 

 sented, although both are of common occurrence in Texas. Milk- 

 weeds (Asdepias spp.) seem to be the natural food plants of both 

 these species. To illustrate the general appearance of bugs of this 

 ia,m.i\j Si specimen oi Oncopeltus fasciatus is shown by Plate I, figure 9. 



a Bui. 18, Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 88. 

 . b Bui. 57, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., pp. 29-31, 1906. 

 c 17tli Ann. Rep. Miss. Exp. Sta., p. 31, 1904. 



