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Stink-bugs and Their Allies

(Family Pentatomidae.)

In this large family of bugs, which comprises nearly four thousand species, of which about three hundred inhabit the United States, we find a curious difference in habit in that while some of them are exclusively plant feeders others feed both upon plants and upon other insects. This differentiation in habit corresponds in a measure with the subfamily grouping. As a rule these insects are flat and broad, and the antennae are five-jointed. The scutellum is enlarged and in some (the Scutellerinae) covers the whole abdomen. Many species possess an extremely bad odor and taste, which has led Comstock to term the group "the stink-bug family." Very many wellknown and common insects belong to this group. The harlequin cabbage bug (Murgantia histrionica Hahn.) is a wellknown species in cabbage fields south of New Jersey. It is a serious enemy to cruciferous vegetables. In parts of Georgia it is still known as the "Abe Lincoln bug," and in Texas as the "third-party bug." The eggs are very beautiful banded objects, laid in clusters on the leaves of cabbage, and the full-grown bug is beautifully mottled with black and red. The so-called spined soldier bug (Podisus spinosus) is a plantfeeder, and also preys upon insects, especially caterpillars. The beautiful bug known as Stiretrus anchorago is largely predatory, and feeds upon many different kinds of insects. The green soldier bug (Nezara hilaris Say) and the common species known as Euschistus servus are both plant and animal feeders.

The eggs of nearly all of these insects are laid in clusters on leaves or other objects, and vary greatly in color and sculpturing. Many of them are parasitized by the little Proctotrypid flies of the genus Teleas.

Typical Life History

(Podisus serieventris Uhl.)

This species which is not uncommon in the northern states lays its eggs in small clusters of from ten to thirty each on the bark of trees or on leaves or other objects. They are bronze in color growing darker up to the hatching period. They are nearly circular in shape, and are furnished with a well-defined circular cap. The upper part of the egg is covered by irregular rows of minute short spines, while around the edge of the cap is a row of long, curved, knobbed spines. They hatch in eight days, and the insect passes through five molts, growing gradually, and changing in color from yellowish-red to brownish-yellow. There are three generations in the course of the summer, and the insect hibernates in the adult condition under the rough bark of trees, and in similar protected situations. When young they feed upon very small insects and their eggs, but when full-grown will attack any insect however large, even full-grown cutworms and the larvae of the Gypsy moth.

Mr. A. H. Kirkland was the first observer to work out the complete life history, and from his full account as published in the report of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture on the Gypsy moth (1896) these facts have been drawn.