200 HEMIPTERA. 



These shortly afterwards withered, turned black, and in a few 

 days dried up ; or curled, and remained permanently stunted 

 in their growth. Early in the morning the bugs would be 

 found buried among the little expanding leaves of the grow- 

 ing extremities of the plants, at which time it was no$ very 

 difficult to catch them ; but, after being warmed by the sun, 

 they became exceedingly active, and, on the approach of the 

 fingers, would loose their hold, and either drop suddenly 

 or fly away. Sometimes, too, when on the stem of a plant, 

 they would dodge round to the other side, and thus elude 

 our grasp. In July, 1851, some of these insects were sent 

 to me by a gentleman, who brought them from St. Johns- 

 bury, Vt., where they were confidently believed to be the 

 cause of the potato-rot. 



This kind of bug is the Phytocoris lineolaris 1 (Fig. 85), 

 a variety of which was first described and figured by Palisot 

 de Beauvois, under the specific name above given, and was 

 doubtingly referred by him to the genus Coreus ; and it was 

 subsequently described by Mr. Say, who called it Capsus 

 oblineatus. All the insects belonging to the genus Phyto- 

 coris* (which means plant-bug) are found on plants, and 

 subsist on their juices, which they obtain by suction through 

 their sharp beaks. They are easily distinguished from other 

 bugs by the following characters. Eyelets wanting; antennae 

 four-jointed, with the first and second joints much thicker 

 than the last two, which are very slender and threadlike ; the 

 head short and triangular ; the body oval, flattened, and soft ; 

 the thorax in the form of a broad triangle, with the tip of the 

 anterior angle cut off, and the broadest side applied to the 

 base of the wing-covers ; the latter, when folded, cover the 

 whole of the abdomen, and their thin portions have only one 



[ l Dr. Harris misquotes Beauvois for this Phytocoris ; the name applied by that 

 author is P. linearis, not lineolaris. — Uhler.] 



* This new genus, or sub-genus, was instituted by Fallen, and is not noticed by 

 Latreille and Laporte. It differs ftom Capsus chiefly in having a smaller head, 

 and the thorax wider behind, and narrower before, than in the latter genus. 



