28 



MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I903. 



J 



V 



Fig. li. CHINCH BUG. LARTA, PUPA AND EGG. 



a and b, eggs; 0, young larva; f/, tarsus of same; 

 e, larva after fir.st molt; /, larva after second molt; 

 g, pupa; /i, leg; i, beak "or tubular mouth;./, tarMU-s 

 of mature bug. The short line at tlie rlglit of each 

 figure shows the natural length (after Riley). 



the wings cover the whole abdomen while in others they are only 

 long enough to cover from one-third to two-thirds of the back. 

 These latter are known as the short-winged forms, while the 

 former are spoken of as the long-winged forms. Both forms 

 are covered on the body and legs with very fine hairs and are 

 apparently alike in all respects except the size of the wings. 



The eggs are white 

 %^^ I in color, about one 

 thirty-third of an inch 

 long, and hatched in 

 about two weeks after 

 laying. The newly 

 hatched larva is yel- 

 lowish with a red spot 

 on the back. Soon 

 the whole body be- 

 comes reddish in 

 color and after the 

 first moult is bright vermillion, except the first two somites of the 

 abdomen, which remain yellow, and the head which is dusky. 

 After the second moult the head becomes still darker and the 

 vermillion changes to duller red. After the third moult the head 

 is brownish black, the abdomen grayish black and the legs black- 

 ish as in the adult stage, which is reached after the next moult. 

 After the &gg is laid, about sixty days elapse before the adult 

 stage is reached. 



HABITS 



During the winter the bugs hibernate beneath such convenient 

 material as loose bark and chips, dried leaves, corn shocks, the 

 weeds of fence corners, and similar places, and they may fre- 

 quently be found, more or less closely crowded, low down among 

 the stems of clumps of wild rushes and grasses, often working 

 their way down between the stems and the soil. During the 

 warm days of May and June they leave these quarters and 

 become active, the long-winged individuals frequently flying 

 some distance to fields favorable for ^gg, laying. The eggs are 

 deposited near or below the surface of the ground on the stems 

 or roots of the food plants. The ^gg laying season extends 

 over a period of about three weeks and each female may lay from 

 three hundred to five hundred eggs. After hatching the young 



