14 THE: CHINCH BUG. 
in Illinois in the autumn of 1854, when in passing over the northern 
part of the State he found the ground in some places, in the midst 
of extensive prairies, covered and swarming with chinch bugs, 
reminding him, as he says, “ of the appearance presented on parting 
the hair on a calf that has been poorly wintered, where the skin is 
found literally alive with vermin.” Further along in his report 
(p. 290) he states that “so late as the forepart of October I met 
several of these insects in the pupa state, and some of these I do not 
doubt would pass the winter in that state, and therefore would not 
deposit their eggs until the following spring.” That he did not find 
these pupe in New York is shown by his statement on page 287 of the 
same report, to the effect that he had “ met with but three specimens 
in New York, occurring on willows in the spring of 1847 and May 
12, 1851.” As shown farther on in this bulletin, there is no proof 
that these pup did not develop to adults before winter, or die before 
spring, and the conditions indicated would almost presuppose that 
hibernation would take place on the prairies where the insects were 
observed by Doctors Fitch and Neal. From personal recollection 
the writer knows that the section of Illinois to which Doctor Fitch 
refers was, at the time mentioned, but thinly populated, and there 
were still very extensive tracts of the original prairie grasses miles 
distant from woodlands. 
In an interesting note by Mr. E. A. Schwarz“ on the hibernation of 
the chinch bug, given in discussing Mr. Marlatt’s paper, previously 
mentioned, attention is called to the fact that the hibernation of the 
chinch bug had been observed by him, in its maritime home, in the 
vicinity of Fortress Monroe, Va., which locality he had been in the 
habit of visiting for a number of years, during the first warm days 
of spring. The maritime flora and fauna are here late to awake, and 
most insects peculiar to the seacoast can still be found in their winter 
quarters by the end of April. By pulling up any good-sized stool of 
grass and beating it out on the smooth surface of the sand or over a 
cloth a multitude of various insects are sure to be found, and among 
them always plenty of chinch bugs. These stools of grass not only 
serve as winter quarters, but in summer the chinch bugs crawl into 
them during the daytime to protect themselves from the fierce rays of 
the sun. 
In the timothy meadows of northeastern Ohio the writer has wit- 
nessed cases where the chinch bugs had commenced their operations 
along one side, worked part way across the field, killing the timothy 
as they advanced, and continued their depredations the following 
year precisely where they suspended work the autumn before, the 
long-winged individuals only migrating in the intervening time. 
— + 
@Insect Life, Vol. VII, pp. 420-422, 1895. 
