THE chinch-bug: history of the insect. 151 



name of leucoptGrus, meaning white-winged. The original description 

 is as follows : 



Blackish, hemelytra white with a black spot. Inhabits Virginia. 



Body long, blackish with numerous hairs; antennse, rather short hairs; 

 second joint yellowish, longer than the third, ultimate joint longer than 

 the second, thickest ; thorax tinged with cinerous before, with the basal 

 edge piceous; hemelytra white, with a blackish oval spot on the lateral 

 middle; rostrum and feet honey-yell6w; thighs a little dilated. Length 

 less than three-twentieths of an inch. 



History of the Insect. 



The very serious nature and the extent of the injuries resulting from 

 this diminutive pest have drawn close attention and study to it, as ap- 

 pears in the many pages devoted to its history, transformations, habits, 

 etc., by most of our principal writers in economic entomology. It has 

 been properly characterized as " unquestionably one of the most per- 

 nicious insects which we have in the United States ; the locusts of Utah 

 and California being the only creatures of this class which exist within 

 the bounds of our national domain, whose multiplication causes more 

 sweeping destruction than does that of this diminutive and seemingly 

 insignificant insect " (Fitch in 1S55). It is but natural, therefore, 

 that its literature should prove extensive, and that all that relates to its 

 past history — its life-stages, habits and present status — means available for 

 the control of its ravages, and the probabilities for the future, should be 

 of deep interest to the agriculturist who is at all conversant with its de- 

 structive capabilities. 



Dr. Fitch, in his second report, has devoted ten pages to its early his- 

 tory in this country. He states that appearing at the close of our revo- 

 lutionary struggle, about the year 1783, in the interior of North Caro- 

 lina, it was at first regarded as the Hessian fly, which at the same time 

 was proving so destructive to wheat-fields on Long Island and in Ncav 

 Jersey. The insects continued to increase throughout North and 

 South Carolina and Virginia for several years. As early as 1785 the 

 wheat-fields in North Carolina were threatened with entire destruction. 

 The ravages continued for several years thereafter, and the cultivation 

 of wheat was temporarily abandoned. 



In 1809 they again became so destructive in North Carolina that wheat 

 was not sown for two years. But little was heard of them for a number 

 of years thereafter, until in 1839, when they again became excessively 

 numerous in Virginia and North Carolina, and extended their depre- 

 dations to corn, oats and other grains. A writer states of them: "I 

 have seen some of my corn so perfectly black with them for two feet 

 up that no particle of grain was to be seen, but five or six inches of the 



