i6o 



AN E CON 03/7 C ENTOMOLOGY. 



necessary to go into details here. The agriculturist in the regions 

 subject to chinch-bug attack should in each case inform himself 

 of what results have been reached, and what recommendations 

 are made by the Experiment Station in his own State. It need 

 only be added that the character of the weather frequently deter- 

 mines the increase of the insects, dry warm weather favoring, 

 and wet cold weather being unfavorable to their development. 



In the family Coreidcs we have species of moderate or large 

 size, many of them very curious in form and shape, some of them 

 carnivorous, but others vegetarian and more or less injurious. 

 They are oblong, rounded behind, the head rather small, with 

 long antennae, and a beak of moderate length. They are flat- 

 tened above, but very convex beneath, so that a section through 

 the insect would show an appearance nearly resembling an equi- 

 lateral triangle. The legs are usually of moderate length, but 

 sometimes become curiously enlarged, the hind legs especially 

 being subject to leaf-like expansions, giving the insects a decidedly 

 odd and bizarre appearance. They are brown in color, some- 

 times black-marked, sometimes with reddish variegations, and 

 altogether, perhaps, they resemble most nearly the Reduviidcs, 

 from which they are easily distinguished by the larger head and 

 the longer, flattened, four-jointed beak. All 

 the members of this family may be looked 

 upon with suspicion, because, although a 

 number of them do undoubtedly feed upon 

 other insects, yet some of these very pre- 

 daceous forms have also been observed feed- 

 ing upon plants, and it is more than likely 

 that they vary their diet as occasion serves. 

 A typical representative of the injurious 

 forms is the well-known "squash-bug," 

 Aiiasa tristis, which attacks cucurbit vines 

 of all kinds and sometimes does notable 

 injury. The insect is dull grayish-brown in 

 color, the tips of the wing-covers darker, 

 while the edges are somewhat paler. It is 

 between one-half and three-fourths of an inch in length, quite a 

 ready flier, but with rather weak legs, and therefore a poor run- 

 ner. It is also called the "stink-bug," because of a peculiarly 



Fig 



The squash- bug, 

 tristis. 



Atiasa 



