148 SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



During his sojourn in the city of New York, he observed in many 

 of the boiled potatoes brought upon the tables of the hotels and restau- 

 rants, upon being crushed by the knife, the remains of a channel or 

 channels leading from the center to the exterior, which may have been 

 the one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. They were apparently of 

 uniform size, and often gave off two or three branches extending to the 

 surface. From his imperfect use of the English language, I cannot 

 assert positively that I quote him correctly in saying that the walls of the 

 channels had such consistency as to permit of their cohesion after having 

 been crushed so as to show their form and branching structure. The 

 passages, he believed, in all cases, originated at the center, in a black 

 spot. He regretted that his examinations had not been sufiiciently 

 minute to enable him to state with certainty whether the channels were 

 entirely uniform in diameter, or if they enlarged somewhat with their 

 outward extension, as is usual in the burrows of beetles made during 

 their growth, and by interior-feeding lepidopterous larvae. No animal 

 remains were discovered within the tubes, the habit of the borer being, 

 as was stated to him, to leave the potato while in the ground. The 

 potatoes affected in this manner had been received from California,, while 

 in those coming from elsewhere, nothing of the kind had been noticed. 



The gentleman believed it to be an insect attack, and from the evi- 

 dence he gave of the ability to judge correctly in such a matter, it is 

 probable that he was correct. But of the character of the insect, the 

 time and the method of the introduction of the egg, no opinion of value 

 can be offered. 



Blissus leucopterus (Say). 

 The Chinch-Bug. 



(Ord. Hemiptera: Subord. Heteroptera; Fam. LyciEID^.) 



Lygceus leucopterus Say: Heterop. -Hemip. N. A., 1831, p. 14; in Trans. N. Y. St. 



Agricul. Soc. (for 1857), xvii, 1858, p. 774. 

 Rhyparochromus devastator Le Baron: in Prairie Fanner, v, 1845, p. 287; id., ix, 



1850, pp. 280-1. 

 RhyparochromiLS leucopterus Harris: Treat. Ins. New Eug., 1852, i)p. 172-8; Ins. 



Inj. Veg. 1862, pp. 197-199, f. 84. 

 Micropus leucopterus Fitch: in Trans. N. Y. St. Agr. Soc. for 1855, xv, 1856, pp. 



.509-529: 1st and 2d Rept. Ins. N. Y., 1856, pp. 277-297, pi. 4, figs. 2, 2a. 

 The Chincli bug, Walsh: in Trans. 111. Agr. Soc. for 1859-60, iv, pp. 346-349, p. 



436; in Pracl. Entomol, i, 1866, p. 95 (barracading by tarred boards); ib., 



ii, 1866, p. 21 (in Canada). 

 Micropus (Lygipus) leucopterus. Shimer: in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Ph. for May, 



1867, [xix], pp. 75-88 (injuries, habits, destroyed by an epidemic). 



