94 
PLANT-BUGS INJURIOUS TO COTTON BOLLS. 
INSECTS OF THE COTTON STAINER FAMILY (PYRRHOCORIDiE) 
INJURIOUS TO COTTON. 
THE BORDERED PLANT-BUG. 
(Largus succinctus L.) 
This insect (PI. I, fig. 7 ; text figs. 24, 25) has been briefly mentioned 
as a minor cotton pest by Professor Sanderson, a who has indicated 
the more important published references. The insect is generally dis- 
tributed throughout the Southern States. Lintner has recorded its 
attack on ripening peaches at San Antonio, Tex., in 1885, but this 
apparently indicated nothing more than an occasional depredation. 
The insect has been observed by the present writer to breed in enor- 
mous numbers in alfalfa fields at Tlahualilo, Durango, Mexico. It 
has also been found in certain regions in Texas breeding on a weed, 
Solanum torreyi, and on mesquite, but in each case only when growing 
in the vicinity of cotton fields. Eggs are deposited in trash in masses 
averaging, in four instances, 180 eggs 
each, and ranging from 108 to 215. b 
The eggs hatch in about ten days at 
an average daily mean temperature of 
74° F. while about twice that time is 
necessary when the temperature is 10 
degrees lower. The damage to cotton 
bolls by the bordered plant-bug is the 
same as that caused by the Pentatomid 
and Coreid bugs heretofore discussed. 
fig. 24.-The bordered plant-bug (Largus Their preference for the cotton boll is 
succinctus): Nymph, first instar. Enlarged not as strongly marked , however , adults 
21 diameters. (Original.) i i • i n 
and nymphs being much more fre- 
quently found feeding on the outside of cotton squares at the base of 
the bracts. The writer knows of no instance of this bug occurring in 
cotton fields in numbers sufficient to cause by itself noticeable dam- 
age except as observed in a few fields in Mason and Llano counties, 
Texas, in 1905. In all cases referred to, the mesquite and the sola- 
naceous weed mentioned above were evidently the chief breeding 
places and as a rule only near-by cotton plants were damaged. The 
newly-hatched nymphs have a dark brownish head and thorax, and 
reddish abdomen. Later nymphal stages are characterized by a 
greenish or bluish-black color with red markings. 
a Bul. 57, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 46, 1906. 
& Professor Sanderson's record of 215 eggs in a mass is the maximum number referred 
to above. 
