INJURING THE STALK AND LEAF. 223 



subject to periodical uprisings, which usually con- 

 tinue one, two, or three seasons before the various 

 natural checks upon its increase reduce its num- 

 bers below the danger line. 



The adult Chinch Bug (Fig. 118, h) is a small 

 blackish insect, slightly less than one-fifth of an inch 

 long, with the legs dark yellow, and their tips black. 

 The young (c, e, f ) do not differ in general form from 

 the adults. When first hatched they are pale yel- 

 low, but they soon become red : this continues to be 

 the prevailing color until the pupa or last nymph 

 stage (g) is readied. The insect is then grayish or 

 brownish-black. The eggs (a, b) are quite small, be- 

 ing about 0.03 inch in length, and amber colored. 

 Short-winged varieties of the adult Chinch Bugs are 

 sometimes found. 



Professor S. A. Forbes has summarized the life- 

 history of this insect as follows: " The Chinch Bug- 

 passes the winter in the adult winged state (a few 

 black wingless individuals occasionally occurring) 

 under rubbish in, or around the fields, in corn-shocks 

 and straw-piles, under boards and among dead leaves 

 in the woods, most abundant, usually, around the 

 edges of the fields and in thickets, and around the 

 borders of woods. From these lurking places such 

 as survive the winter emerge in April and May 

 (possibly sooner, if the season opens early), and, after 

 pairing, lay their eggs, in May and June, in fields of 

 spring and winter wheat, barley, rye i iats and corn 

 — chiefly in wheat and barley — most of the eggs be- 

 ing deposited in or near the ground, on the lower 



