CHINCH-BUG FAMILY. 73 
may be found throughout the entire year, half concealed by bits 
of twigs and dead leaves, or stowed away beneath the loose frag- 
ments of rock which lie scattered over the ground.” (Uhler.) 
In the sub-family Geocorina we find a few insects very re- 
markable on account of their large and projecting eyes, for which 
reason they are frequently called “Big-eyes.” One species (G. 
bullatus Say) is illustrated in Fig. 65. These bugs are some- 
times exceedingly numerous and not unfrequently cause alarm by 
their presence, as farmers are apt to conclude that they are the 
injurious chinch-bugs. Yet they are perfectly harmless, feeding 
upon many kinds of low-growing weeds. They possess another 
point in their favor, as they have been seen to actually eat the 
farmer’s great enemy, the chinch-bug. 
The sub-family Blissina contains the dreaded chinch-bug, 
an insect only too well known as one of the greatest enemies of 
the grain-growing farmer. Much has been written about this 
insect, and a number of bulletins were issued by the writer, which 
can still be obtained by writing for them to the office of the 
Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota at St. An- 
thony Park. It would require too much space to quote all that 
has been written about this pest. Prof. Comstock, in his Intro- 
duction to Entomology, gives the following short account, which 
may suffice for the present: 
Blissus leucopterus Say. (The Chinch-bug). 
“This well-known pest of grain-fields is a small bug, which 
when fully grown measures a little less than 4mm. (0.16in.) in 
length. It is blackish in color, with conspicuous snowy white 
wing-covers. ‘There is on the costal margin of each wing-cover, 
near the middle of its length, a black spot; from each of these 
spots there extends toward the head a somewhat Y-shaped dusky 
line. The body is clothed with numerous microscopic hairs. In 
Fig. 66, Plate I, this insect is represented natural size and enlarged. 
The species is dimorphic, there being a short-winged form. 
“There are two generations of the chinch-bug each year. 
The insects winter in the adult state, hiding beneath rubbish of 
any kind; they even penetrate forests and creep under leaves, 
and into crevices under bark. In early spring they emerge from 
their winter quarters and pair; soon after the females begin to 
