SOiME INSECT PESTS IN THE WEST INDIES. 



01 



adds that he has observed an adult lady-bh-d (Megilla maculata) eating 

 a young larva of Bysderciis andreae. It would seem, however, that 

 this is the only authentic instance of a predaceous insect attacking any 

 member of the genus Dysdercvs. Neither is there apparently any record 

 of birds or other vertebrates having been found to feed upon these bugs. 

 It may be of some interest, therefore, if not of economic importance, 

 to state that while in Jamaica I found examples of Dysdercus andreae 

 in the stomach of a Parrot-billed Blackbird (Crotophaga ani) (fig. 38). It 

 would appear from the few dissections which were made that this l)ird 

 is almost, if not quite, omnivorous in its diet, as the following record 

 of the food-contents of three stomachs of these birds will show: — 



Locality. — Stony Hill, St. Andrew, January 4-., 1909. 

 No. 1. Contents. — Almost filled with portions of the nests (cells, larvae, 

 and pupae) of the common paper-building wasp [Polistes crinita).; 

 there were also a few skins of moth larvge, and one spinose skin 

 of the larva of a Nymphalid butterfly. 

 1 beautifully coloured beetle {Homophoeta equinoctialis, Linn.) of the 

 Chrysomelid group, having a yellow thorax, with deep -violet wing- 

 cases bearing eight large white spots. 

 1 weevil (RJiyncopliorus sp.). 



3 specimens of the pupal stage of the bright orange-red " Cotton- 



stainer " {Dysdercus sp.). 

 1 small mollusc (non det.). 

 1 purple berry of the noxious Lantana. 

 3 hard brown seeds (non det.). 



1 Texas-fever tick (M. annulatus anstralis), a partly engorged female. 



Locality. — Stony Hill and Constant Spring, St. Andrew, January 14, 

 1909. 



No. 2. Contents. — Large fragments of the common " green stink- 

 bug " {Loxa flavicollis, Drury), in both immature and adult stages, 

 the stomach being well filled with the remains of this insect. 



No. 3. Contents. — 2 almost perfect examples of the " green stink-bug " 

 (L. flavicollis) and many fragments of others, the stomach being 

 about half filled with the remains of this insect. 



1 beetle resembling a small Harpalus. 



2 small grey weevils and a number of fragments of another Ehynco- 

 phorus beetle of a dark-brown colour. 



1 spider. 



1 Texas-fever tick (M. annulatus australis), a partly engorged female. 



The finding of ticks is of economic importance ; while the discovery 

 of the green " stink-bug " (Loxa flavicollis) is of great bionomic interest. 

 This bug, whose odour is horribly offensive, does not possess any 

 warning coloration; but, being of a uniformly green colour, is highly 

 protected and difficult to discover when resting among the leafy branches 

 of a tree or shrub. It is common, but not apparently abundant, though 

 it is not infrequently attracted at night by artificial light. The amount 

 of odoriferous matter contained in the stomachs of the birds found to 



