INSECTS OF INI. COTTON BTAINBB FAMILY. 95 
THE COTTON STAIN HK. 
(Dysdercus suturclli'.s B. Schf.) • 
The cotton stainer (PI. I, fig. S), or "red bug," as it is sometimes 
called, is a native of tropical America and although long known as a 
cotton pest it is of limited distribution in this country, where thus 
far damage to cotton has been reported only from Florida. 
Riley and Howard a have given the most complete account of 
this insect that has been published. The differences in opinion 
among various observers as expressed in published writings concern- 
ing the nature of the injury by this insect to cotton have been dis- 
cussed by the writer un- 
der the general subject 
of injury by plant-bugs. 
Riley and Howard 
have referred to the rec- 
ords of food plants and 
supposed food plants. 
Aside from the cotton 
and orange, the cotton 
stainer has been observed 
to feed on certain un- 
determined malvaceous 
plants and has been 
found on certain species 
of Hibiscus, on the leaves 
of guava (Psidium), on 
Spanish cocklebur ( Urena 
hbata), and night-shade 
(Solatium nigrum ) . The 
writer has observed these 
insects breeding in large 
numbers at Orlando, 
Fla., on Spanish cockle- Fig. 25.— The bordered plant-bug: Nymph, fifth instar. Enlarged 
v • • i 6dlameters. (Original.) 
our growing m and near 
orange groves, but has never observed them to feed on citrus fruits, 
except in cases where they were in confinement. Undoubtedly, as 
Riley and Howard have indicated, the habit of feeding on oranges 
is a temporary one and is probably due to the destruction o( more 
natural food plants by frost or other can-.-. 
Mr. II. A. Ballon has given some records of egg-laving of certain 
West Indian species of cotton stainers, but the writer knows of no 
published records of this kind concerning the American form here 
discussed. On October 8, L906, 1 females and 4 males collected on 
a Insr. t Life, Vol. I, pp. S.U -241, L889, 
