700 
RHYNCHOTA. 
CA'OCORIS lineola- 
(After Distant .) 
di'ated; ocelli are present in some species and eyes are well developed; 
the rostrum is four-jointed and more or less closely applied to the under 
surface of the body. The legs are moderately 
long and slender, the prothorax usually un¬ 
armed, and the known species are winged 
and fly readily. They bear a marked 
superficial resemblance to small beetles 
both in facies, colouring and attitudes, some 
leaping as the Halticides do. 
Little is known of their life-history; the 
female is provided with an ovipositor used 
for laying eggs in the tissues of plants. The 
life-history of one species, Helopeltis theivora, 
Waterh., is known in detail, and the student 
should consult the increasing literature of 
this insect in Ceylon and India. (Green, 
Dudgeon, Atkinson, Mann, Antram.) Gallobellicus crassicornis, Disk, 
has been observed to lay its eggs in the soft tissues of young shoots of 
tobacco. The eggs of DispMnctus jormosus , Kirk., have been described 
by E. E. Green (Entomologist, 1901, p. 114). Each egg is laid singly 
in the shoots, and bears a short and a long divergent process which are 
exposed and not embedded. It is probable that all lay their eggs in 
the tissues of plants and that the number of moults will be the normal 
number, five ; the full life-history of one at least in the plains deserves 
to be worked out. Equally little is known as to hibernation, and the 
insects are not common enough to render such observations easy. 
Capsidce are found on grass and low vegetation in greatest number 
and are, so far as known in India, wholly vegetarian (one species has 
been observed in the hills feeding on the excrement of birds). This is not 
the case elsewhere and it is probable that in India also predaceous species 
will be found. Besides the destructive mosquito blight of tea {Helo¬ 
peltis theivora , Waterh.), several are destructive. Calocoris includes 
species which suck the soft grain of the big millet ( Andropogon sorghum) 
in South India and elsewhere. Disphinctus includes the very destructive 
species, D. politus , Wlk., that attacks the betel vine ( Piper betel) and one 
( D . humeralis, Wlk.), that attacks cinchona. Others are very likely to 
be found as pests. 
