327 



insect depredations. By securing specimens and transmitting them to 

 the Department tbey will not only give facilities for the enlargement of 

 entomological science, but also will confer a lasting benefit upon the 

 farming interest, which they have so much at heart. 



The following is a brief general statement from the county reports ot 

 July, 1874, showing the character of the various destructive insects, and 

 something of the extent of their depredations. 



Chinch-hugs, {Micropus [Rhyparochromus] Icucopterus.) — This insect, 

 intensifying its mischievous i)resenceinthe West, is extending its ravages 

 eastward. Last year it was heard of in only one county east of the 

 Alleghany Mountains — Halifax, Virginia. This year it has again been 

 quite destructive in spring-grain in this county, as well as in Nelson, 

 Southampton, Pittsylvania, Albemarle, and Campbell } it was also mis- 

 chievous in Caswell, I^forth Carolina, in 'Jefferson, West Virginia, and 

 in Livingston, Henry, and Graves, Kentucky ; it is reported in Athens, 

 Ohio. In Indiana it was mentioned in several counties as more or 

 less injurious, viz : Pike, Crawford, Putnam, Shelby, Washington, 

 Brown, Cra\vford, Jasper, Morgan, and Orange. Its ravages were 

 more severe and widespread in Illinois. In some counties they ap- 

 peared early enough to attack winter- wheat before harvest, and to make 

 the wheat-stubble a point of attack upon the various spring crops. The 

 counties complaining of their presence were Pike, Logan, Cumberland, 

 Hancock, Macon, Marion, Pope, Mason, McHenry, Cass, Clinton, Craw- 

 ford, Efl&ngham, Jersey, Macoupin, Montgomery, Moultrie, Morgan, 

 Bichland, Vermillion, Washington, Wayne, Piatt, Perry, Schuyler, 

 White, and Sinclair. The drought favored their operations as far north 

 as Wisconsin. Three southern counties, Richland, Jefferson, and Green, 

 report them as threatening spring crops. In Clarke, Iowa, timely rains 

 largely destroyed the young insects, thus saving the crops from their 

 ravages. They were quite injurious in Jefferson and less so in Taylor. 

 Their most fatal ravages, however, were felt in Missouri ; in Pettis they 

 were so numerous on many farms as to swarm into houses and barns 

 like bees ; near wheat-fields the ground was a mass of crawling bugs 

 from noon till near sundown. In Moniteau and Benton they seriously in- 

 jured wheat, only on light prairie soils; wheat on timber-land measurably 

 escaped. In Polk, corn-fields adjacent to wheat-fields seem to have 

 specially suffered ; they werejparticularly destructive upon grain and grass 

 crops. They are also reported in Lawrence, Caldwell, Cass, Vernon, 

 Saint Clair, Green, Boone, Moniteau, Barry, Barton, Carroll, Cape Girar- 

 deau, Christian, Clinton, DeKalb, Harrison, Johnson, Linn, Montgom- 

 ery, Miller, Phelps, Polk, Ralls, Stone, Randolph, Reynolds, Hickory, 

 INewton, Adair, Franklin, Dallas, Morgan, Laclede, McDonald, Crawford, 

 Clay, Washington, and Jasper. Kansas reports greater or less inju- 

 ries in Douglas, Woodson, Allen, Anderson, Barton, Bourbon, Chase, 

 Cherokee, Franklin, Jackson, Lyon, Linn, Montgomery, Miami, Morris, 

 Sumner, Greenwood, Marion, Osage, Wabaunsee, Wilson, Atchison, 

 and Neosho. In Franklin, a corn-field within twenty rods of a wheat- 

 field was considered as doomed. No efforts to resist the ravages are 

 reported, nor does any expedient appear to have been suggested in any 

 portion of the country for relief against this very serious and destruc- 

 tive enemy. 



Colorado beetles, {Doryplwra decem-Uneata.) — Colorado beetles are 

 working eastward. They were quite severe in Wayne, New York, bat 

 were comparatively harmless in Wyoming. In Alleghany they were 

 strenuously resisted with Paris-green ; they were also noted in Cattarau- 

 gus, Delaware, Madison, and Tioga. They were also operating in Bar- 



