REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



315 



their habits and peculiarities. But there are a few which always defy 

 our efforts. The Tarnished Plant-bug" belongs to this last class, tor wo 

 are almost powerless before it from the fact that it breeds and abounds 

 on Mich a great variety of plants and weeds, and that it flies so readily 

 from one to the other. Its flight is, however, limited, and there can bo 

 n<> better prophylactic treatment than cleau culture, for the principal 

 damage is occasioned by the old bugs when they leave their winter 

 quarters and congregate on the tender buds and leaves of young fruit 

 stock ; and the fewer weeds there are to nourish them during the sum- 

 mer and to protect them dining the winter, the fewer bugs there will 

 be. The small birds must also be encouraged. Applications of air- 

 slaked lime and sulphur have been recommended to keep them oft', but 

 if any application of this kind is used I incline to think that, to be effect- 

 ual, it must be of a fluid nature, and should recommend st rong tobacco- 

 water, quassia- water, vinegar, and cresvlic soap. * • * I have no- 

 ticed that the bugs are extremely fond of congregating upon the bright 

 yellow flowers of the cabbage, which, as every one knows, blooms very 

 early in the season, and it would be advisable for persons who have 

 been seriously troubled with this bug, and who live in a sufficiently 

 southern latitude where the plant will not winter-kill, to let a patch of 

 cabbages run wild and go to seed in some remote corner of the farm, in 

 order that t he bugs may be attracted thither and more readily destroyed 

 than when scattered over a larger area." 



In addition to the suggestions in the foregoing quotation, we have, 

 fortunately, much more effectual and satisfactory remedies that have 

 come into use since that was written. Professor Forbes, in the elabor- 

 ate article already alluded to, shows quite conclusively from a series of 

 experiments that Pyrethrum is perfectly effective as an agent in de- 

 stroying this bug; and, further, that the kerosene emulsion, while not 

 satisfactory if too weakly diluted, is an effective remedy and will be 

 found available for field use if sprayed in dilution containing not less 

 than 5 per cent, of kerosene. 



THE FALSE CniNCII-BIJG. 

 (Nysius angustatus Uhler.) 

 Order Heteroptera ; Family Pay g adicid^e. 

 [Plate V ; Fig. 2.] 



PAST HISTORY AND HABITS. 



In the Western Planter for June 20, 1872, we published the first notice 

 of this inseet. In Phillips' Southern Planter of about September 1, 1872, 

 Mr. William Ji. Howard published a rather meager description of it 

 under the name of Nysius raphanus n. sp. This was copied in the 

 Country Gentleman for September 1 and appeared in the Canadian 

 Entomologist fox November, 1872. In our Fifth Missouri Entomological 

 Report, published April 18, 1873, we gave a more extended description 

 under the name Nysius destructor n. sp., abandoning the name raphanus 

 at the author's request, but stating at the same time that the species is 

 so variable u that it is difficult to see wherein some of the specimens 

 differ from the European thymi, or from N. angustatus Uhler, and it is 

 barely possible that future comparison will show specific identity be- 



