CHINCH BUG ITS NAME. 291 



b, dimidiatus. Basal half of the thorax deep velvety black, anterior half grayish. 



Common. 



c, fulvivenosus. The stripes on the wing covers tawny yellow instead of black. 



d, albivenosus. Wing covers white, without any black marks except the margi- 



nal spot. A male. 



e, apterus. Wingless and the wing covers much shorter than the abdomen. 



f, basalis. Basal joint of the antennas dusky and darker than' the second. 



g, nigricornis. Two first joints of the antennas blackish. 



ft, femoratus. Legs pale livid yellow, the thighs tawny red. Common- 

 i, rujipcdis. Legs dark tawny red or reddish brown. 



As will be seen from the historical notices which are given 

 above, this insect was at first called the Hessian fly or Hessian 

 bug, in Carolina. And as appears from the description given by 

 Kirby and Spence, it was only the red larvae of these insects 

 which were then supposed to be the depredators, no one being 

 aware that the black bugs with white wing covers were the same 

 insects in a more advanced state. As these larvae have a close 

 resemblance to the common bed-bug (Cimex ledularius, Linnaeus) 

 which through the Southern states is everywhere designated by 

 its name in the Spanish language chinche,* when it was ascer- 

 tained that they were a very diiferent insect from the Hessian 

 fly of New York, they were definitely distinguished by the name 

 chinch bug, or chinch bug fly. It is altogether probable, how- 

 ever, that the latter was the term by which the winged insects 

 were designated, and that the former was the name given to the 

 larvae; and Kirby and Spence might well be at a loss to under- 

 stand why the epithet " fly " should be given to an insect with- 

 out wings, as this was represented to be. The name chinch bug 

 has now become the established title of this insect, and as the 

 same word has been adopted as a specific name in Natural His- 

 tory (e, g. Argas chinche, Gervais) it would be the most appro- 

 priate scientific designation for this species, had it not already 

 received a different one. 



The chinch bug was first scientifically named and described by 

 Mr. Say, in a pamphlet (page 14) entitled " Descriptions of New 

 Species of Heteropterous Hemiptera of North America," pub- 

 lished at New Harmony, Indiana — the eight first pages of which 

 appeared in the year 1831, the remainder the following year. 

 This insect must have been much more rare throughout our 



* For full philological information respecting this word and its use at the South I am under 

 cbligations to W. F. Brand, Esq. of Emerton, Maryland. 



