EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 387 



THE EFFECT. 



As the heart stalks of celery form the edible part of it, the bugs could 

 not have attacked any other part of the plant where as little harm would 

 be done as on the higher and older leaves. Then, too, the severest part of 

 the attack did not last over three weeks. It was the attack of such 

 countless numbers that made their work so severe. Most fields at Tecum- 

 seh suffered less than was at first feared, but where the bugs were abund- 

 ant the loss to celery was considerable. Plants, that had suffered a severe 

 attack, were retarded in their growth from two to three weeks, and when 

 they appeared to have recovered it was not with the same large, perfect 

 stalks, so characteristic of Tecumseh celery, but with a large number of 

 little, curlin», gnarly stalks that would be of little or no market value. We 

 might as well say that in such cases the crop was an entire loss. 



NOT THE CHINCH BUG. 



Owing to the sudden appearance of this little negro 

 bug, a great many in the region thought it surely must 

 be the chinch bug. Some were not convinced till speci- 

 mens of the chinch bug were sent from Iowa and com- 

 pared with the negro bug when they at once saw a great 

 structural difference. Both have the odor peculiar to all 

 > similar bugs and have a beak for sucking, but are very 

 different in most respects. The form, as will be seen in 

 the two cuts, is entirely different, and the chinch bug is 

 not shining black, but a dull, dusty brown with the ter- 

 minal half of the wings membranous. There is little 



Fig. s.-chinch bug danger of a chinch bug invasion so far north in Michigan 



(BUssus leucopterxjLs). as the Celery fields. 



GLEANINGS FKOM LITERATURE. 



Before we attempt to suggest any remedies let us learn more about the 

 little negro bug's habits, and what others have learned of it. 



The earliest account of its destructive habits that was found is an article 

 in the Canadian Farmer for August, 1867, where Eev. C. J. S. Bethune 

 speaks of its attack on strawberry plants in Canada. 



In the same year B. D. Walsh, in the Practical Entomologist, Vol. II, 

 p. 119, reports it as swarming on raspberries in Missouri in such numbers 

 as to render the berries worthless both from odor and taste. 



Walsh and Riley, in the American Entomologist, report it as puncturing 

 strawberries and causing the blossoms and fruit to wilt; also as attacking 

 the cherry, quince, and pear in the same way. The remedy suggested was 

 cresylic soap, which has long since been superseded by better remedies. 



Dr. Riley, in his second Missouri Report (1870), gives a review of the 

 plants attacked and reports it very common all over the state the year 

 before. 



In the Prairie Farmer, August 15, 1868, he reports a new growth of 

 stems and leaves of grape vines injured by it. 



la the U. S. Agricultural Report, 1884, p. B90, Mr. Webster reports 

 breeding the bug on wheat. 



Prof. Forbes in his Illinois Report for 1890, p. 51, reports it common in 



