140 ANNUAL REPORT. 



of the States to the south and east of us, although they may some 

 of them, be quite new to us. It will only be necessary therefore 

 for me to describe them in general terms and mention such dis- 

 coveries in regard to their habits and the methods of treating them 

 as have been recently brought out. 



THE CHINCH BFG. {Mtcropus leucopterus, Say). 



This ill-famed and ill-smelling bug — "chinck bug," as 

 our German and Scandinavian friends call it, has already 

 made a settlement among us in spite of our hopes and 

 predictions that our climate would be too severe for his 

 constitution, especially, since, according to Dr. Shimer, he is 

 predisposed to bronchial troubles. We are not sure, indeed, that 

 our climate will not be a help to him in that respect as it has been 

 to so many biped invalids. However this ma}^ be, he shows the 

 same voracious appetite for growing wheat and corn that has for 

 years made him the most dreaded foe of the farmers of Illinois, 

 Kansas, Missouri, and many other states. I have not as yet seen 

 any statistics as to the amount of loss caused in this state by the 

 chinch bug during the last season, but pres ime that in some sec- 

 tions it was considerable. The habits of this insect may be 

 briefly recounted. It hibernates in straw piles, cornstalks, 

 weeds, under boards, chips, and in rubbish of every sort, remaining 

 dormant until the young wheat and oats are well started. It then 

 makes its way to the roots of the grain and deposits a large number 

 of very minute yellow eggs, from which hatch the little bugs that 

 are at first blood red, but change to brown with a pale band across 

 the back. These pierce the wheat stalk with their little beaks and 

 when there are hundreds on a single stalk they soon exhaust the 

 supply of sap and the plant dies. When one plant is exhausted 

 they crawl to another and often migrate from field to field in the 

 same way. Unlike the insects in higher orders there is no change 

 to inactive pupae with this species. The pupa are only distin- 

 guished from the larvae by having the rudiments of wings, and are 

 as active and greedy in this stage as in any other. They require 

 from five to six weeks for entire development, and as the fe- 

 males continue to oviposit for some time, their season is extended 

 for more than two months, and the first brood overlaps the second. 

 A singular fact in the habits of this insect is that although the 

 perfect individuals have large and strong wings they never fly, ex- 

 cept at the pairing season. They always crawl from one field to 



