LOSSES CAUSED BY CHINCH BUGS. 33 
in the tops of trees, especially where the tops were dead, under the 
bark and often from 50 to 75 feet from the ground. This was a 
piece of astounding information, to the writer at least, and it was 
only after securing specimens that he was able to solve the mystery. 
This insect, in all stages of development except the egg, hibernates 
under loose bark. It is broader and much flatter than the true chinch 
bug, but the wings are white and the body black. 
The object in calling attention to these bogus chinch bugs is to 
prevent their confusion with the true Blissus leucopterus, as in some 
cases people finding them and supposing them to be the true pest 
are likely to become panic stricken and often destroy property un- 
‘necessarily, so notorious has the name * chinch bug” become in the 
_United States. 
LOSSES CAUSED BY CHINCH BUGS. 
It would appear that this pest first made its presence known by 
its ravages in the wheat fields of the North 
Carolina farmers; for we are told | ~ Pee that “in 
1785 the fields in this State were so overrun 
with them as to threaten a 
total destruction | | of the grain. 
And at length the crops 
were so de- : 
stroyed in some ie : { 
districts that eal fe Sage Ne | 
farmers were oo ae Seu Oe 
obliged to By oaeendi | " SW f°. 
abandon the es | a 
sowing of wheat. | | ng | 
It was four or ~ mises : 
five years that 
© P Fic. 9.—Brachyrhynchus granulatus: a, early nymph; 0, adult; ec, late 
they continued nymph. All enlarged (original). 
so numerous at this time.” ¢ 
In the year 1809, as stated by Mr. J. W. Jefferys,’ the chinch bug 
again became destructive in North Carolina to such an extent that 
in Orange County farmers were obliged to suspend the sowing of 
wheat for two years. In 1839 °¢ the pest again became destructive in 
the Carolinas and in Virginia, where the bugs migrated from the 
wheat fields at harvest to the corn, and in 1840 there was a similar 
outbreak, and both wheat and corn were seriously injured. In all 
of these cases, however, there is no recorded estimate of the actual 
financial losses resulting from the attacks of the chinch bug. Accord- 
@ Webster on Pestilence, Vol. I, p. 279. Not seen. Quoted from Fitch. 
6 Albany Cultivator, first series, Vol. VI, p. 201, 
¢ The Cultivator, Vol. VI, p. 103. 
26608—No. 69—07 m——3_* 
