28 



CIRCULAR 270, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



are quite active, flying readily or moving around to the opposite side 

 of a twig or bud when approached, and are not easily seen. Eggs are 

 laid in the tender shoots or in the flower heads of a number of plants, 

 and the nymphs, which resemble the adults, except that they are 

 smaller and have no wings, feed chiefly on cover crops and weeds. 

 Growth is attained in less than a month, nymphs going through a 

 series of molts as they increase in size. There are 3 or 4 broods 

 during the season, and the bugs are often very numerous in the fall. 

 Large numbers of these bugs die when the first cold weather comes, 



and the mortality 

 among those hiber- 

 nating is apparently 

 high. 



CONTROL 



No very satisfac- 

 tory method of con- 

 trolling the tarnish- 

 ed plant bug has 

 been devised. Some- 

 thing can be accom- 

 plished by cleaning 

 up and burning trash 

 which may accumu- 

 late about buildings, 

 and burning grass 

 and leaves along 

 fence rows. Burn- 

 ing should be done 

 during cold weather 

 in order to destroy 

 the bugs before they 

 can escape. It must 

 be done with great 

 care about orchards, 

 as trees are very 

 easily injured by 

 fires near them, and 

 fires sometimes 

 escape into the 

 orchards themselves. 

 Destruction of trash 

 in the orchard by this means is not advised, for the trash usually 

 forms part of the orchard mulch and should not be burned. Thorough 

 cultivation late in the fall may be of some benefit, covering the bugs 

 with soil and preventing their escape in the spring. Spring cultiva- 

 tion, on the other hand, may drive the bugs into the trees. Control 

 by means of sprays or with repellent or attractive materials has not 

 been satisfactory. 



BOXELDER BUG 



Occasionally clusters of flat bugs, black with red lines and about 

 one half inch long, are found feeding on the maturing fruit (fig. 35). 

 These are boxelder bugs (Leptocoris trivittatus Say), which occur 

 chiefly in the vicinity of boxelder trees. They are sometimes mis- 

 taken for tarnished plant bugs, but may be distinguished by their 



Figure 31.— Tarnished plant bug. Twelve times natural size. 



