THE LITTLE-LINED PLANT-BUG. 
201 
or two little veins ; the legs are slender, and the shanks are 
bristled with little points. There are, in Massachusetts, a 
good many species belonging to this genus ; but, in my Cata¬ 
logue of the insects of this Commonwealth, they are included 
among the species of Capsiis, Avhich, indeed, they closely re¬ 
semble. 
The Pliytocoris lineolaris (Fig. 85), or little- 
lined plant-bug, measures one fifth of an inch, 
or rather more, in length. It is an exceed- 
ingly variable species. The males are gen¬ 
erally much darker than the females, being 
very deep livid brown or almost black above. The head 
is yellowish, with three narrow longitudinal reddish stripes; 
the fii'st joint of the antennae, the terminal half of the sec¬ 
ond, and the last two joints are blackish; the beak is more 
than one third the whole leno-th of the body, when folded 
beneath the breast, extends to the middle pair of legs, and 
is of a yellowish color, ringed with black ; the thorax, or that 
part of the body that comes immediately behind the head, is 
thickly covered with punctures, has a yellow margin, and five 
longitudinal yellow lines upon it, which often disappear on the 
back part; the scutel, or escutcheon, a small triangular piece 
behind the thorax, and interposed between the bases of the 
wino:-covers, is also marmned with yellow, and has a yellow 
spot upon it in the form of the letter Y, which is often imper¬ 
fect, so that only three small yellow spots are visible in the 
place of the three extremities of the letter; the thick part of 
the wincr-covers is brown, with the outer edo;e and the lonm- 
tudinal veins sometimes pale or yellowish, and behind this 
thick part there is a large yellowish spot, on the posterior tip 
of which is a small black point; the thin or membranous part 
of the wing-coA^ers is shaded with dusky clouds ; the under 
side of the body is marked AAuth a yellowish line or a lono-itu- 
dinal series of yellow spots on each side of the middle ; the 
legs are dirty brownish yellow, the thighs blackish at base, 
and Avith two black rings near the tip, and the extremities of 
26 
