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XEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Habits of the Insect. 

 Prof. Popenoe, of the State Agricultural College of Kansas, has been 

 a close observer of this insect, and was the first writer to call popular 

 attention to it. The account given by him in 1889, in the Industrialist, 

 of its habits is apparently so complete that it will be read with interest 

 whenever and wherever the insect displays its gregarious tendency. 

 The article is accompanied by figures illustrating its early stages, and 

 contains recommendations for its destruction, etc., but only the portion 

 relating to its habits is herewith quoted: 



The species has been known in this locality for over ten years as a tree 

 pest, appearing at times in great numbers upon the box- elder, and occa- 

 sionally attacking the ash. During the winter the adults are hidden in 

 sheltered nooks and corners everywhere, but are especially abundant in 

 crevices of stone walls and the angles of stone buildings, on the south 

 sides of which they appear, singly and in clusters, every warm day dur- 

 ing the season. As soon as the increasing warmth of spring allows 

 they leave these shelters and seek the trees attacked by them. 

 From the time of their scattering in the spring until the appearance of 

 the first adults after midsummer they are much less conspicuous, and 

 are not likely to be noticed except upon search directly for them. It 

 is at this time, however, that their eggs are laid, and the numerous 

 young are hatching and beginning their work on the trees. After 

 midsummer their gregarious tendency is again manifested in the flock- 

 ing of the bugs of all sizes and in great numbers in lines up and down 

 the trunks and branches of the trees. Not infrequently they may be 

 seen crowded in a broad line extending from the ground to the second- 

 ary branches, the company including larvae of all sizes, pupae, and fully 

 matured individuals. This habit persists more or less completely until 

 October and November, or until the trees are bare. During the warm 

 days of Indian summer the bugs fly everywhere, flocking to the warm 

 sides of buildings and entering houses where, though otherwise harm- 

 less, they become troublesome through their abundance and through 

 their propensity to fall clumsily into pails of water, crocks of milk and 

 other articles of food left uncovered. 



They are principally found, as stated, upon box-elder trees, but 

 observation shows them to be much more general in their selection of 

 food-plants. They feed also on the ash, and I have observed them in 

 abundance sucking the sap from the Ampelopsis clinging to the south 

 side of a stone building. Into the greenhouse many make their way 

 during the autumnal flight, and such are specially fortunate; for they 

 find there not only the desired warm shelter, but abundance of food as 

 well. They are not slow to test the qualities of the juices of the plants 

 growing in the house, and we have seen them with beaks inserted in 

 the stems of geraniums, cactuses, lilies, Coleus, Ageratum and other 

 plants. 



Remedies. 



Attack from Hemiptera (suctorial insects) are particularly to be 

 dreaded, as they cannot be reached by the arsenites, of which are 



