33 



Injury to Cotton at Tlahualilo, Mexico, by other Heteroptera. 



The injury to cotton by P. ligata is probably the same as might 

 result from the attacks of many other heteropterous insects. Several 

 species of pentatomid bugs were collected feeding on cotton bolls, 

 but none were numerous enough to cause appreciable damage. Next 

 to P. ligata^ the most abundant heteropteron found feeding on cotton 

 bolls was Leptoglossus zonatus Dall. The injury found on the ex- 

 amination of bolls upon which, bugs of the latter species had been 

 feeding I was unable to distinguish from that resulting from the 

 feeding of the former. The individuals of the above coreid were not 

 common enough in the cotton fields during the first few days of Sep- 

 tember to interfere with observations on the conchuela. The fol- 

 lowing heteroptera, in addition to the species above mentioned, were 

 found on cotton at Tlahualilo between August 31 and September 8, 

 1904. For their identification the w^riter is indebted to Mr. O. Heide- 

 mann, of the Bureau of Entomology: Apiomerus spissipes Say, 

 Zelus renardii KoL, Largus cinctus H. S., Oncopeltus fasciatiis Dall., 

 MurgoMtia histrionica Hahn, and Thyanta perditor Fab. 



Injury by this and other Pentatomids in the United States. 



\ The species here considered has been taken on cotton in our own 

 cotton States, but neither it nor any other pentatomid has ever, so 

 far as the writer can learn, proved of much consequence as a pest in 

 the cotton fields. The eggs of pentatomids are attacked by several 

 hymenopterous parasites, which probably more than any other factor 

 prevent many of the species from becoming serious pests. Occa- 

 sionally, however, we find reports of a species of this family, pre- 

 viously unknown except, perhaps, for a scientific description, spring- 

 ing suddenly into prominence as a pest in one locality or another 

 and the following season becoming of the same slight importance as 

 usual. An instance of this kind is briefly mentioned in a previous 

 bulletin of this Bureau,^ Pentatoma sayi Stal being there referred to 

 as appearing as a serious wheat pest in Colorado, Arizona, and New 

 Mexico in the summer of 1903. Many pentatomids and other heter- 

 opterous insects, which probably all cause damage to cotton similar to 

 that of P. ligata^ occur in the cotton fields in this country. It is pos- 

 sible that this species may be sporadically of more or less importance 

 locally, especially under circumstances where, by the unavoidable 

 losses occasioned by the boll weevil, the small margin of profit makes 

 it necessary to reduce to the lowest practicable limit injuries from the 

 minor pests. Assuming the truth of the report that this species 

 breeds upon mesquite beans, it is evidently much more likely to 



« Bulletin No. 44, Division of Entomology, p. 86. 

 28739— No. 54—05 m 3 



