OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 289 



notwithstanding all this, I would rather have a colony in 

 my orchard when infested with the Slug (Selandria 

 cerasi), than ever so many barrels of London-purple. 

 In the summer of 1886 I found these hornets were busy 

 from morning until night in the orchard, taking the 

 Slugs from the leaves, and carrying them to their young, 

 where their nest was suspended on one of the trees. 



There are also many blood-thirsty creatures found in 

 the order Hemiptera, or true bugs. These are not pro- 

 Tided with jaws like the beetles, but only with a sharp, 



Fig. 169.— WHITE-PACED HORNBT. Fig. 170. — HARPAOTOR CINOTCS, 



(Vespa maculata.) the banded bobber. 



etout beak — for example, see the illustration of the many- 

 banded Bobber, figure 170, a representing the perfect in- 

 sect, I its magnified beak. It belongs to a group of bugs 

 called the Reduvius family, all of which are classed 

 among beneficial insects. The Many-banded Robber is 

 elegantly marked with yellow, white and black. It is a 

 high-minded creature, most often found on trees and tall 

 plants, but if it does not find sufficient food in its \oit^ 

 position, it frequently deigns to come down to the potato 

 patch and feed on the larvae of the Colorado Potato 

 Beetle. 



The well-known Wheel-bug also belongs to this group, 

 and so does the rapacious Soldier-bug, which is of a light- 

 brown color, something of the shade of the Squash-bug, 

 with which it is sometimes confounded ; but an observing 



