53 
Fig. 51. — Lygus pratensis: adult bug at left; last stage of 
nymph at right— nearly four times natural size (orig- 
inal, Division of Entomology). 
ish, ringed with darker brown. The length is about one-fiftli or three- 
sixteenths of an inch. 
This plant-bug has been stated to pass through four stages of growth 
from the time it hatches from the ^g^ until it reaches the adult condi- 
tion, but there is little doubt that there are fi^e stages, to agree with 
other species of plant-bugs which have been traced through their 
metamorphoses. In the first stage the insect measures only one-twen- 
tieth of an inch, and is yellowish or yellowish green in color. The 
known stages are shown in 
figures 51 and 52. 
Were it not for the fact that 
this plant-bug feeds upon such 
a variety of crops as well as 
weeds, thus diminishing the 
damage, it would be much 
more injurious than it really 
is. It has been asserted, and 
with probable truth, that the 
puncture of the bugs is poison- 
ous to plant life. 
The bugs are extremely ac- 
tive, and quick of flight as well as on foot, and when disturbed in the 
least have the habit, in common with many other plant-bugs, of dodg- 
ing to opposite sides of the plant, where they remain out of sight. 
The tarnished plant-bug, as previously stated, can be found afield 
throughout the season, appearing in early spring and disappearing 
only when cold weather approaches. Hibernation is usually in the 
adult stage, but the nymphs or immature forms are sometimes seen 
under circumstances that would 
lead to the belief that the spe- 
cies also winters over in this 
stage. The insects pass the 
winter under any convenient 
shelter, particularly in rubbish 
left in fields and in fence cor- 
ners, and under leaves, boards, 
and stones. After copulation 
in early spring the females deposit their eggs singly and directly on 
their host plants, oviposition continuing for two weeks or longer. 
Hemedies. — The great activity of the tarnished plant-bug, coupled 
with its habit of feeding on so great a variety of plants, passing from 
one to another with no apparent choice, renders it more difiicult of 
control than if it were concentrated. It can not be kept in bounds by 
any single remedy, at least when it occurs in great numbers. In tiie 
application of insecticides, or other remedial measures, it is necessary 
a, c 
Fig. 52.—Lijgus pratensis: a, newly hatched nymph; 
h, nymph of a later stage; c, fourth stage — three or 
four times natural size (after Forbes, Division of 
Entomology). 
