152 CHINCH-BUG. 



selves so securely, in the winter, that burning cornstalks and other 

 rubbish can destroy, at best, but a very small proportion of them ; and, 

 finally, if their natural enemies are so few as to make no perceptible 

 impression upon their countless hosts ; then we are driven to inquire, 

 with the more earnestness, whether we can take a step in advance of 

 all these imperfect palliatives, and absolutely prevent the breeding of 

 these noxious insects, to any serious extent, by abstaining from the cul- 

 tivation of those crops which are most congenial to their nature. It 

 may seem a hard alternative to give up the raising of some of our most 

 valuable crops, at the behest of these nauseous HeTtii'pteTa^ but a hard 

 remedy is better than no remedy. .It is better to save your labor and 

 your seed, than to lose seed and labor and harvest likewise. 



"What then does experience teach us witli regard to the breeding 

 habits of these insects, and the plants upon which they mostly subsist? 



When the warmth of spring has become sufficiently confirmed to 

 penetrate the hidden recesses where insects hibernate, many diiferent 

 species which have wintered over, in the winged state, are seen emerg- 

 ing from their retreats, and launching out upon the vernal air, appa- 

 rently rejoicing in their new lease of active existence. Amongst these, 

 in the localities where -they prevail, the Chinch-bugs are to be seen, 

 flying in dense flocks, in search of the plants at the roots of which it 

 is their instinct to deposit their eggs. Mr. Sells, of Bloomington, in- 

 formed me that whilst plowing, about the first of May, his clothing 

 and his horses were thickly sprinkled over with them, and that the 

 horses were seriously annoyed in breathing by the bugs flying into 

 their nostrils. These insects deposit their Q>^^^ at the roots of our cul- 

 tivated cereals, and some of the grasses which most nearly resemble 

 them. As the Chinch-bug is a native insect it must have subsisted 

 originally upon the native grasses, before the cultivated cereals were 

 introduced. The Chinch-bug was then a rare insect, only occasionally 

 met with by collectors. Mr. Thomas Say, who spent twenty years in 

 collecting and describing insects, in many parts of the United States 

 and their Territories, first described the Chinch-bug, from a single 

 specimen, and the only one which he had ever seen, and which was 

 captured in the eastern part of Virginia. But there is no difficulty in 

 getting specimens now. We have, ourselves, been the means of their 

 excessive multiplication, by furnishing them with a superabundance of 

 congenial food in the shape of our cultivated grains. 



But' the question now before us is, upon which of these grains do 

 they thrive best, and will they thrive sufficiently upon all of them to 



