THE CHINCH BUG. 15 
Length 1} lines, of three-twentieths of an inch. Body black, clothed with a very 
fine grayish down, not distinctly visible to the naked eye; basal joint of the antenne 
honey yellow ; second joint of the same tipped with black; third and fourth joints, 
black ; beak brown; wings and wing-cases white; the latter are black at their in- 
sertion, and have near the middle two short irregular black lines, and a conspicuous 
black marginal spot; legs dark honey yellow, terminal joint of the feet, and the 
claws black. (Dr. Wm. LeBaron in the Prairie Farmer for September, 1850, Vol. X, 
pp. 280, 281, where the name of Rhyparochromus devastator is proposed for it.) 
Dr. Fitch also enumerates the following varieties of this insect : as 
a, immarginatus.—Basal margin of the thorax not edged with yellowish. Common. 
b, dimidiatus.—Basal half of the thorax deep velvety black, anterior half grayish. 
Comn on. 
c, fulvivenosus.—The stripes on the wing-covers tawny yellow instead of black. 
d, albivenosus.—Wing-covers white, without any black marks except the marginal 
spot. A male. 
e, apterus.—Wingless and the wing-covers much shorter than the abdomen. (Fig.3.) 
f, basalis.—Basal joint of the antenne dusky and darker 
than the second. (Fic. 3.] 
g, nigricornis.—T wo first joints of the antenne blackish. 
h, femoratus.—Legs pale livid yellow, the thighs tawny red. 
Common. 
i, rufipedis.—Legs dark tawny red or reddish brown. 
To these varieties, all of which occur with us, I would 
add one which may be known as melanosus, in which the 
normal white of the wings is quite dusky, and contains addi- 
tional black marks at base and toward tip, and in which all 
the members and the body except the rufous hind edge of 
thorax are jet black. 
In addition te these varieties mentioned by Dr. 
Riley, an interesting form has been collected by Mr. 
E. A. Schwarz at Lake Worth, Fla., and by Mr. O. Shemp ingen, Caiey 
Heidemann at Fortress Monroe, Va. This variety 
is at once distinguished from other short-winged varieties by its more 
slender and pointed wing-pads, and by the color of the antenne, the first 
three joints of which are honey yellow, while the last joint or club is 
nearly black. It seems also to be more thickly clothed with silvery 
pile, but this is probably due to the fact that the specimens studied were 
mounted dry, while all others which I have seen have evidently been 
placed in alcohol. This variety, so far as we know, has been collected 
on the sea-shore only. 
: NUMBER OF BROODS AND HIBERNATION. 
For many years there existed a misconception concerning the number 
of broods of insects in the West. It was always understood that there 
was more than one brood, and some newspaper writers insisted that 
there are as many as five or sixannual generations. Professor Riley, in 
the Practical Entomologist, Vol. I (March 26, 1866), was first to publish 
the definite statement that the Chinch Bug is two-brooded in northern 
Illinois, and Dr. Shimer the succeeding year published the same state- 
