200 
HEMIPTERA. 
These shortly afterwards withered, turned black, and in a few 
days dried up ; or curled, and remained permanently stunted 
in their growth. Early in the morning the bugs would be 
found buried among the little expanding leaves of the grow¬ 
ing extremities of the plants, at which time it was not very 
difficult to catch them ; but, after being warmed by the sun, 
they became exceedingly active, and, on the approach of the 
fingers, would loose their hold, and either drop suddenly 
or fly away. Sometimes, too, when on the stem of a plant, 
they would dodge round to the other side, and thus elude 
our grasp. In July, 1851, some of these insects were sent 
to me by a gentleman, who brought them from St. Johns- 
bury, Yt., where they were confidently believed to be the 
cause of the potato-rot. 
This kind of bug is the Phytocoris lineolaris^ (Fig- 85), 
a variety of which was first described and figured by Palisot 
de Beauvois, under the specific name above given, and was 
doubtingly referred by him to the genus Coreus; and it was 
subsequently described by Mr. Say, who called it Capnus 
ohlmeatus. All the insects belonging to the genus Phyto¬ 
coris* (which means plant-bug) are found on plants, and 
subsist on their juices, which they obtain by suction through 
their sharp beaks. They are easily distinguished from other 
bugs by the following characters. Eyelets wanting; antennae 
four-jointed, with the first and second joints much thicker 
than the last two, which are very slender and threadlike; the 
head short and triangular; the body oval, flattened, and soft; 
the thorax in the form of a broad triangle, with the tip of the 
anterior angle cut off, and the broadest side applied to the 
base of the wing-covers ; the latter, when folded, cover the 
whole of the abdomen, and their thin portions have only one 
[ 1 Dr. Harris misquotes Beauvois for this Phytocoris; the name applied by that 
author is P. linearis^ not lineolaris. — Uhler.] 
* This new genus, or sub-genus, was instituted by Fallen, and is not noticed by 
Latreille and Laporte. It differs ftom Capsus chiefly in having a smaller head, 
and the thorax wider behind, and narrower before, than in the latter genus. 
