728 INSECTS ABROAD. 



It is a Nortli American insect, and is one of the pests of the 

 country, feeding in its larval state upon the roots of wheat, and 

 sometimes destroying half the crops of a district. On pulling 

 up a wheat-plant, hundreds of the minute eggs may sometimes 

 be seen adhering to the roots, where the mother insect has 

 placed them, having made her way underground for that pur- 



Kro. 471.— Micropus leui'optevus, 

 (Blackish : white wings.) 



pose. Fortunately the larva is killed by wet, so that a rainy 

 season will be of the greatest service by destroying the young 

 larva before they are able to produce young in their turn. 

 In droughts, howe\'er, the Chinch-bug increases with fearful 

 rapidity, and though the insect feeds chiefly on wheat, it does 

 not disdain other vegetables. In fact, as an aggrieved farmer 

 said of the insect, " nothing comes amiss to it." 

 The fiouve is necessarily magnified. 



