30 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO GARDEN AND ORCHARD CROPS. 



presume that our correspondent was not aware of the fact that they 

 obtain their food by suction. 



It is now fairly certain that this species has practically the same food 

 habits as tristis. Where squash was available the insects were very 

 rarely to be seen on melons or cucumbers. Such were the conditions 

 at Marshall Hall and in Washington. 



DESCRIPTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 



This species was described by Thomas Say in 1825 (Proc. Ac. Xat. 

 Sci. Phila., vol. rv. p. 319, Lee. ed., p. 244). but nothing concerning its 

 biology has been published, so far as can be learned, prior to a short 

 preliminary note by the writer, entitled '-A new squash bug/' which 

 appeared in the September (189S) number of the Canadian Entomologist 

 (vol. xxx, pp. 239-240). 



The mature bug is of nearly the same size as Anasa tristis, from which 

 species it may readily be distinguished by its broader prothorax with 

 prominent angles, the retfexed connexivum or sides of the abdomen, 

 which show each side of the hemelytra four prominent white marks, 

 and its unispinose femora. This spine is borne by each leg near its 

 apex. The surface above is brown, and the legs and first joint of the 

 antennae are whitish, spotted and irrorated with black. The terminal 

 antennal joint is light-yellowish, as is also the articulation of the first 

 joint with the second and the second with the third. In front of each 

 eye, just behind the insertion of the antenna, is an acute porrect spine 

 or horn. The adult is illustrated by figure 6, a. 



The full-grown bug when first transformed is yellowish-cream color, 

 the eyes showing brownish-red and the last antennal joint bright 

 sanguineous. In a few minutes, however, the normal markings appear, 

 the insect itself growing perceptibly darker as it is watched. 

 . Say's specimens were from Missouri and there is a series in the 

 National Museum from western Iowa and Florida. The species is 

 essentially a southern one and evidently Lower Austral and perhaps 

 Tropical, although some of the localities mentioned are Upper Austral. 

 From the fact that the species is so well adapted to the climate of the 

 District it seems probable that it is not a recent introduction from the 

 South, but has been established here for many years. I fail to find 

 mention of the occurrence of this species in Central America. It is not 

 included in Biologia Centrali Americana with A. tristis, but it doubtless 

 occurs there, as we have in the National Museum collection a specimen 

 from Port of Spain, Trinidad. 



In the collection of Mr. Heidemann are three specimens of a species 

 that at first glance would readily be mistaken for armigcra. They are 

 from the District of Columbia and Glen Echo, Md., and are labeled 

 Anasa repitata Uhler MS. The most observable difference between this 

 species and armigera is the absence of the porrect spines or horns on 



