98 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
cases in rearing the moths. Podisus spinosus was never observed suck- 
ing the cotton bolls ; but P. punctipes was frequently caught in the act. 
The bugs, however, are so closely related that their habits are probably 
similar. 
The eggs of P. spinosus (Fig. 18c) are bronze-colored, caldron-shaped 
objects, with a convex lid, around which radiate fifteen or sixteen white 
spines. They are attached side by side, in clusters of a dozen or more, 
to leaves and other objects, and are very subject to the attacks of a 
Proctotrupid parasite of the genus Telenomus. The young bug is ovoid, 
shiny black, with some bright crimson about the" abdomen. In the fall- 
grown larva (Fig. 18&) four yellowish spots appear on the thorax, and 
the abdomen becomes more yellowish. In the so-called pupa, distin- 
guished by wing-pads, the ocher-yellow extends still more, and in the 
perfect insect the black entirely disappears. In the immature stages 
the shoulders are rounded, not pointed. The antennae are four-jointed 
instead of five-jointed as in the adult, and the feet or tarsi have but two 
joints instead of three. 
The diet of the young seems to be principally vegetarian, but we 
have mentioned (Fourth Eep., Ins. Mo., p. 20) instances where the 
larva has often been seen to destroy larvae of the Colorado Potato- 
beetle four or five times its own size. 
. The thick -thighed Metapodius (M. femorata, Say, Fig. 22), which in 
the first edition was placed in the list of probable enemies, has since 
been observed in the act of destroying full-grown worms. It has also, 
however, been seen to pierce and suck bolls. 
Much more effective than the larger Heteroptera were two small spe- 
cies, both extremely abundant on cotton near Selma, and very fre- 
quently observed attacking Aletia. The one is Triphleps insidiosus, 
which, with its larva, may be considered as a special destroyer of Ale- 
tia eggs. It was very often found with its beak inserted in the eggs, 
busily engaged in sucking out the contents. The empty eggs, with the 
hole plainly observable, were also frequently met with. It was also 
often met with in large numbers in half-empty pupae, which it had possi- 
bly killed ; but it has not been seen to attack the worms. Another 
species was often seen sucking worms of all sizes and also pupae, and 
even on one occasion a moth was attacked just as it was cotning forth 
from its pupa- skin. 
The following species, commonly found in cotton fields, but not yet 
actually observed to feed on the worms, may safely be 
regarded as having the habit, while several others might 
be added, some of which combine the carnivorous with 
the plant-feeding trait: Stirctrus fimbriatns (Say) (see 
Fig. 23), var. diana (Fabr.), Euschistus punctipes (Say), E. 
trfstigmus (Say), Thyanta custator (Fabr.), Evagoras 
Fhj^b.— Stiretrus viridis Uliler, M&rocoris distinct us Dall., Anasa armigera 
gjg£f"*' (After gay ^ and Nezar a pensylvanica De G. 
