252 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
lion oaOfl taken, it is BOmecUnea forced to seek better bunting grounds, and takes to 
LtB wings. The Wheel-bag has been observed to remain for days in tbe same ill- 
ohoeeo position, for instance upon tin; walls of a building, waiting patiently for 
something to turnup. It is slow in all its motions, but witbal very observant of 
Mantis Carolina : a, female j b, male. 
everything occurring in its neighborhood, proving without doubt great acuteness of 
senses. It does not seem to possess any enemies itself, and a glance at its armor 
will indicate the reason for this unusual exemption.* During warm weather this 
bug possesses a good deal of very searching curiosity, and a thrust with its beak, 
filled with poison, is very painful indeed. Boys call it the Blood-sucker, a misnomer, 
since it does not suck human blood. The eggs are laid during the autumn in various 
places, but chiefly upon smooth surfaces of the bark of tree-trunks, and frequently 
in such a position as to be somewhat protected against rain by a projecting branch. 
The female bug always selects places the color of which is like that of the eggs, so 
they are not easy to see, notwithstanding their large size. 
Euschistus servus Say is another hemipterous insect that preys upon the caterpillar 
of if. cunea, and in a similar manner to the Wheel-bug. It is a much smaller, but 
is also a very useful insect. 
Podisus 8pino8ii8 Dall. (Fig. 90), in all its stages, was quite numerous during 
the caterpillar plague. Its brightly-colored larva? and pupae (Fig. 91) were usually 
'found in small numbers together; but 
as they grew older they become more 
solitary in their habits. All stages of 
this insect frequent the trunk and 
branches of trees, and are here act- 
ively engaged in feeding upon various 
insects. As soon as one of the more 
mature larvae or a pupa has impaled 
its prey, the smaller ones crowd about 
to obtain their share. But the lucky captor is by no means will- 
ing to divide with the others, and he will frequently project his 
beak forward, thus elevating the caterpillar into the air away from the others. The 
habit of carrying their food in such a difficult position has perhaps been acquired 
* The eggs of the Wheel-bug are pierced, however, by a little egg-parasite— Eu- 
pelmus reduvii Howard. 
a 
Fig. 90.— Podisus spi- 
nosus : a, enlarged 
beak ; b, bus. with right 
wings expanded. 
I- 
91. — Podtal* xpino 
, pupa: b, larra. c, 
egg. After Riley. 
