172 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



tongue and mouth parts. The bug had his suctorial beak 

 inserted into his captive's throat. Likewise, I have seen 

 this harlequin bug masquerading in the yellow blossoms 

 of the goldenrod, hidden most perfectly by his harmonious 

 colors. 



The disregard with which this deadly bug is held by the 

 guests of the flowers is a singular fact. Upon examination into 

 the cause of this seeming recklessness of its prey, it may be 

 explained from the fact that the. grotesque form of the ambush 

 bug makes him appear more like a harmless floral structure than 

 an insect enemy. Moreover, the peculiar coloring of his body> 

 both above and below, simulates the flower coloring in a 

 way to make him perfectly protected. Underneath the body 

 of our common species, Phymata wolffii, shown in the plate 

 illustration, the color is pale green, the abdomen being edged 

 with green and bearing a dark spot on each side. The colors 

 above are even more deceptive, as will be seen in the 

 photographic view. 



If the ambush bug fails to find sufficient victims on one flower, 

 one may not be surprised to see him suddenly take wing and 

 fly with great agility to another one. He is equally at home 

 on many kinds of flowers, but he has a certain predilection for 

 the goldenrod and wild carrot. There is a stage in the life of 

 the wild carrot blossom, marking the beginning of senescence, 

 in which it draws together toward the middle, giving it a cup- 

 like appearance. It is these older flowers that are more fre- 

 quently chosen by the ambush bug, and on these more often 

 will be found the dead victims of this insect. But further 

 search makes it plain that not all these lapparent victims can 

 be laid at the door of this bug. Alongside of the ambush bug, 

 living in the lace-like folds of the wild carrot, one may often 

 find a second assassin, known as the crab-spider. 



I have mentioned him in a subsequent chapter entitled "The 

 Evening Primrose Spider Trap." There, it will be seen, he is 

 a yellow spider, but in his existence on the wild carrot his 

 color is white, and his behavior somewhat different from that 

 noted hereafter. The two assassins are not companionable, 

 though they may be seen side by side on separate blossoms of 

 the same plant. In exceptional cases the ambush bug turns 



