822 CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT, I907-I908. 



the elm leaf beetle, and at times proves an effective check. After 

 many trials, this parasite has during the past season been intro- 

 duced into this country through the efforts ©f Dr. L. O. Howard,* 

 and has been distributed in Massachusetts, New York, New 

 Jersey, and at Washington, D. C. It is hoped that it may survive 

 here and prove an important aid in controlling this pest. 



Predatory bugs of at least three species of the genus Podisus, 

 called "soldier bugs," feed upon the larvae and pupae, and one 

 of these, P. maculiventris Say (formerly P- spinosus Dall.), the 

 spined soldier bug, was unusually abundant during 1908 and 

 destroyed many larvae, pupae, and adult beetles, though of course 

 the proportion destroyed is very small. The spined soldier bug 

 was sent in from Branford, where its attack on the beetles was 

 observed by Mrs. A. J. Tenney ; from Meriden and from Moosup, 

 where it had also been found preying upon the elm leaf beetles. 

 From Bridgeport dead beetles were received, having been killed 

 by one of these bugs. The writer observed a number of cases 

 in New Haven where larva, pupa or adult had been attacked 

 by the spined soldier bug, which impaled the victim upon its 

 proboscis and waved it about in the air while sucking out the 

 juice. These bugs were rather common on trees during the last 

 of July and the first part of August, and are shown on Plate 

 LV d. Dr. A. W. Morrillf has published a record of two of 

 these bugs in confinement which during their last nymphal stage 

 destroyed twenty-six elm leaf beetle larvae, and after becoming 

 adults destroyed two hundred and twenty elm leaf beetle larvae 

 and seven large caterpillars. 



Riley records^ two species of beetles, Platynus punctiformis 

 and Quedius molochinus, as preying upon the elm leaf beetle, and 

 states that an assassin bug, Reduvius novenarius, sucks the juices 

 of both adults and larvae upon the leaves, and that the larva of 

 a species of Chrysopa feeds upon the eggs. 



The praying mantis (Stagmomantis Carolina Linn.) is also an 

 enemy of the elm leaf beetle in the southern portion of its 

 range. 



* Journal of Economic Entomology, Vol. I, p. 281, October, 1908. 



t Bulletin No. 60, Bur. of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, p. 155. 

 1906. 



t Bulletins No. 6, p. 10, and No. 10, p. 13, Bur. of Entomology, U. S. 

 Dept. of Agriculture. 



