308 



JOURNAL OF ECONOAIIC -ENTO^IOLOGY 



ol. 8 



Juniper Plant Bug (Chlorochroa uhleri Stal.) This large, olive green stink bug 

 with pinkish markings is easily recognized and usually rare, though in June, 1894, it 

 was reported from Brockport, N. Y., as having nearly destroyed a crop of peaches. 

 Several years ago we found some eight or ten of these bugs on a small pine tree at 

 North Chatham, and the past summer reports of the unprecedented abimdance of 

 this insect, accompanied by serious injmy, were received from Air. IM. A. Soule, 

 Quaker Street, Schenectady County, N. Y. ]\Ir. Soule states that the bugs were 

 thick on sunflower seeds, that they injured green com and destroj^ed small peas 

 while still within the pods, the insects evidentl}^ piercing the' pods and drawing the 

 sap direct from the seeds, and in this waj^ preventing a normal development. To- 

 matoes were also injured and turned black at the point of attack within a few days. 

 Quantities of currants and berries were likewise spoiled. 



Mr. Soule kindly forwarded a number of Uving bugs and we were able to verify 

 the reports so far as com and tomatoes were concerned. The insects repeatedly 

 estabhshed themselves upon the sm-face of a tomato, and after a time the slender, 

 chitinous lancets were forced mto the fruit to their full extent, the ensheathing labium 

 folding back near its middle as the head was pushed down until its lower margin 

 touched the surface of the fruit. One bug remained over a feeding puncture twenty- 

 seven minutes, repeated^ raising and lowering its head as it partly withdrew or 

 forced the lancets into the fruit. T\Tien the latter occurred the lancets were sup- 

 ported only by the tip of the labium and the tissues which they pierced. The next 

 day the fruit showed an oval, shghtly sunken area about a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter, the center being marked by a minute puncture. This injured spot became 

 more visible the second day, and later exhibited some discoloration. A similar injury 

 was also observed to kernels of sweet corn in the milk. 



The Juniper plant bug was by far the most abundant species concerned in this 

 injmy, though the related Euschistus variolarius Pal. Beauv. was present in much 

 smaller numbers and was observed feeding upon both com and tomatoes. This 

 latter insect apparently experienced less difficulty in piercing the skin of the tomato, 

 though it did not drive the lancets so deeply into the fruit as to necessitate the folding 

 of the labium. 



E. P. Felt. 



A Cricket Predaceous on the Termite. T^Tiile observing a flight of termites 

 (Termes lucifugus Rossi) at Manhattan, Kansas, on October 6, 191-i, the writer no- 

 ticed a common field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus Burm.) feeding on the termites 

 as they emerged from the ground. The cricket was between two of the holes 

 from which the termites were emerging and was devouring one termite after an- 

 other. During the fifteen minutes that the cricket was under observation it 

 caught and devoured eleven termites. 



J. W. McCoLLOCH, Manhattan, Kansas. 



