6 



As if it were not enough for the currant bushes to be despoiled 

 of their leaves by the insects spoken of, a great many Goose-berry 

 Worms {Pempelia grossularice, Packard,) appeared, webbing together 

 and devouring or spoiling a great many clusters of its fruit. In 

 their work of destruction they were greatly aided by a Span-worm 

 which had not hitherto been known to feed upon this fruit, at least 

 no account of its doing so has ever come to my notice. I prefer to 

 the larva of Eupithecia interrupto-fasciata, Packard, to which I have 

 given the name of the Currant Fruit Worm. I had frequently found 

 these worms in previous years on various kinds of flowers, but the 

 present season they appeared upon the currants in considerable 

 numbers, and I frequently found one of them half hidden in a large 

 currant, busily engaged in devouring the interior of the berry. 



The Chinch Bug {Blissus leucopterus, Say,) has not been very 

 destructive in this section the present season, for the simple reason 

 that but a very small area of wheat was sown. The farmers in 

 this part of the State have about made up their minds to abandon 

 the cultivation of this valuable cereal; what with Chinch Bugs, 

 Hessian Flies, blight, rust and smut, their chances of raising a good 

 crop of wheat are certainly not very good. One farmer sowed about 

 two acres of spring wheat, and I know of no other field of wheat 

 within five or six miles of this one. I examined this field for Chinch 

 Bugs on the '22d of July, and found many of all sizes near the 

 middle of the field, where the wheat had been killed in large patches, 

 the plants turning white and bending over a short distance from the 

 ground. This field was harvested on the 26th. Three days later, 

 and again on the 3d of the following month, I examined the edge 

 of an adjoining oat-field, and found only one Chinch Bug. I could 

 not see that they had injured the oats in the slightest degree. 



Several years ago, when wheat was more extensively raised in this 

 locality than it is at the present time, the Chinch Bugs appeared in 

 immense numbers in a field of wheat which contained about four 

 acres, nearly ruining the entire field. After this field was harvested 

 the bugs moved across the field in solid phalanx, into a field of 

 corn, and in a short time the lower part of the stalks of corn in 

 the rows nearest the road were covered so thickly with these insects 

 to the height of about two feet, that this part of the stalks was 

 completely hidden from view; but the corn was so far advanced 

 that they did not damage it very materially. A farmer had been 

 told that he could protect his wheat from the attacks of these in- 

 sects by sowing clover seed with the wheat. This he did, and the 

 clover and wheat grew finely together, and the latter did not seem 

 to be at all injured by the bugs ; but as soon as it was harvested 

 these insects appeared in such numbers in the edge of an adjoining 

 field of Hungarian grass, as to cause the latter to turn white in a 

 very short time. Whether the Chinch Bugs fed upon the clover in 

 preference to the wheat, or whether the clover prevented the too 

 rapid evaporation of moisture, thus enabling the wheat to withstand 

 the attacks of these insects, I am unable to say; but the latter is 

 probably the correct reason, as the bugs deserted the clover shortly 

 after the wheat was cut, although the clover was as rank as ever. 

 They appear to prefer wheat to all other plants, aud since this has 

 not been grown very extensively in this locality of late, I have not 



