64 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, 
to the fact that some hibernating females oviposit much in advance 
of others and to the other fact, previously mentioned, that a single 
female takes several days or even weeks to lay all of her eggs. Pro- 
fessor Forbes records egg-laying, presumably by hibernating individ- 
uals, from the last weekin May (at Decatur) until the last weekin June 
(at Warsaw), thus making certain individuals of the first brood one 
month later in development than others in two localities not far dis- 
tant (140 miles) and of about the same latitude. There are many 
accounts in print which are almost incredible tales of the size of these 
migrating hordes, and yet they are probably only too true. 
Dr. Thomas states that the migration upon foot seldom exceeds 80 
rods, but the winged individuals fly to much greater distances. In- 
stance was given in the Farmer’s Review for August 17, 1887, where a 
little patch of sweet-corn grown in the midst of pine woods in north- 
ern Wisconsin, 8 miles from a cultivated crop of any kind, was badly 
infested with the Chinch Bug. This appearance of the bugs probably 
resulted from the flight thereto of mature individuals. 
It naturally results from the wide difference in the method of 
growth of the crops that the Chinch Bugs, after migrating from 
wheat to corn, appear to be much more numerous upon the latter crop 
than they were upon the former, in spite of the great numbers usu- 
ally killed in the act of migrating, for a single stalk of corn will be 
obliged to support the Chinch Bugs from a great many stalks of 
wheat. Moreover, the bugs swarm upon the first few rows and de- 
stroy them before invading the entire field generally. The outer 
rows, of course, under these circumstances are often black with bugs. 
The pupz work their way down between the leaves and the stalk and 
there cast their skins and issue as adult insects. The leaf sheath is 
often thus filled with exuvie. The eggs for the second brood are 
also often, if not usually, deposited in this same situation—behind the 
sheaths of the lower leaves—and on hatching the young bugs remain 
there feeding and growing and casting skins, sometimes even until 
the advent of cold weather and their consequent winter torpor. Oth- 
ers issue from these sheaths, particularly when they are especially 
abundant, or, failing to find satisfactory locations on the outer rows, 
take wings and fly to the center of the field and become generally 
scattered. They feed upon the Corn or Rye, as the case may be, and 
upon the surrounding grasses or in the fields of Millet or Hungarian 
grass until the approach of fall, by which time nearly all are once 
more full-grown. Mr. Webster observed them at La Fayette, Ind., 
in August, forcing themselves down into cut stubble of Foxtail Grass 
(Setaria glauca) for the purpose of undergoing the last molt. He 
counted upwards of twenty in a single stalk. 
We may mention in this connection, as reported to us by Professor 
Osborn and also as published in the Country Gentleman for August 
25, 1887, that President Chamberlain, of the Iowa Agricultural Col-. 
lege, dug a single root of Hungarian grass at Ames, Iowa, the first 
week in August, upon which were counted 3,025 bugs. Harth was 
removed with the root to the depth of 3 inches (1 inch surface), in 
all about 4 cubic inches. 
In the North the majority of them are ready to hibernate by the 
time the field corn.is harvested. Farther South, however, the corn 
grows too hard for them a considerable time before the weather 
is cold enough to compel them to seek winter shelter. In North 
Carolina, as we have already shown, a third brood has appeared by 
the time the corn becomes hard and the bugs seek the Crab-grass and 
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