The Chinch-Bug Family 



angustatus Uhl.) which although it belongs to a different subfamily 

 is frequently mistaken by farmers for the true chinch-bug. It dam- 

 ages grapevines, strawberry plants and many garden vegetables, 

 puncturing the leaves with its beak and causing them to wilt. 

 The life history of this bug should be worked up. We do not 

 know its eggs, the number of molts or the number of genera- 

 tions. One of these bugs, known as Belonochtlus numideus 

 Say, according to Heidemann, feeds on sycamore leaves and 

 passes the winter in the half-grown condition thrust down 

 in the crevices of the " button balls." 



Life History of the Ciiinch-Bug- 



(Blissus leiicopterus Say.^ 



The chinch-bug is a small, dark colored insect with white 

 wings. It is only 3 mm. long and is rather slender. It passes 

 the winter as a full-grown bug, hidden away in clumps of old 



Fig. 203. — Nysius angustatus. 

 (After Riley.) 



Fig. 204. — Blissus leucoptenis. 

 (After Riley.) 



grasses or in other protected spots. The tgg is nearly i mm. 

 long, elongate-oval, and of an amber color. About five hundred 

 are laid by each female and are thrust into grass sheaths near the 

 ground, or upon the stem at or under the surface of the ground. 

 They are laid in the spring and the young hatch soon afterwards 

 The newly hatched bugs are pale yellow at first but grow red. 

 They molt four times before becoming adult and grow darker in 

 color and the adult is dark gray or nearly black. Over most 



3" 



