296 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



or the corn plant, as the case may be. The eggs, while large for an in- 

 sect the size of the chinch bug, are really very small, measuring only 

 three-hundredths of an inch in length. See figure 51, a, b, which repre- 

 sents two eggs greatly enlarged. When in masses, such eggs appear of 

 a whitish, translucent color when first deposited, but later become amber 

 colored, and just before they are ready to hatch have a decided reddish 

 hue, due to the fact that the young insect shows through the egg envelope. 



While most farmers have not observed the eggs of the chinch bug, 

 it is really a very simple matter. If they will pull up clumps or bunches 

 of grass and carefully pull the dirt away from the roots, they will find 

 the little masses of eggs tucked away just under the little clumps of 

 dirt about the base of the plant. Occasionally- the eggs are deposited on 

 the stem or between the stem and leaf, above the ground, or between the 

 earth and stem of the plant, rarely on the leaves or further up the plant. 

 See figure 52, g, which represents the masses of eggs about the roots of 

 a wheat plant, and also some masses on the lower leaf. The females take 

 from two to four weeks to deposit their eggs. The eggs hatch in about 

 two weeks, but vary considerably according to the weather. In some 

 instances they may hatch in ten days, and in other cases they may take 

 three weeks. From the time the egg hatches until the adult stage is 

 reached requires about forty days. Hence you can readily see that from 

 the time the first eggs are deposited until the first adults of this brood 

 appear would require practically two months. 



The young chinch bugs when they first hatch look very little like 

 the adult. They are very small, of a pale yellow color, and with an 

 orange spot on the back of three abdominal segments. See figure 51, c, 

 and figure 52, b. In form these newly hatched bugs are not unlike the 

 adult, but of course, they have no wings whatever. As soon as hatched, 

 they lose no time in seeking a place in which to insert their beaks through 

 the tissues of the plant and suck the sap. After a time they have grown 

 in size so that their skin becomes too small for them ; it then splits open 

 along the back and the creature crawls out, leaving its first skin beiiind. 

 This is known as the first molt.* The insect now appears quite decidedly 

 red, or vermillion, with a pale band across the middle of the body. See 

 figure 51, ^, and figure 52, c. After feeding for some time the larva 

 again becomes too large for its old coat, and it again splits open along 

 the back and the creature crawls out, leaving its cast skin behind a sec- 

 ond time. The insect now has a dusky head and thorax, while the ab- 

 domen is of a duller red, with the pale band still distinct. See figure 

 51, /^, and figure 52, d. The future wing pads now become apparent. 



