4« 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



about the habits of the insect, the idea appeared 

 absurd enough, and it was generally unnoticed. 

 The article has, however, been extensively copied 

 without remarks, not only by some political papers, 

 but by many of the widely circulated Agricultural 

 journals in the country, and I feel constrained to 

 rectify any impression that the readers of the Prac- 

 tical Entomologist may have derived from it. 



This is the more necessary since the article in 

 question must be quite plausible to those unac- 

 quainted with the insect, and also because it was 

 observed by reliable persons that the Chinch Bug, 

 in many parts of this State, was quite scarce late 

 last Fall, and that comparatively few went into 

 winter quarters to hybernate. In some sections 

 also there has been but little snow, and the winter 

 has been unfavorable to the bugs, and should the 

 weather also prove unfavorable to iheir increase 

 next summer, and the grain be free from their ra- 

 vages, the result would be immediately attributed 

 to the destruction of the eggs in the seed wheat by 

 those who soaked their grain in whatever mixture 

 with the expectation of such a result, and the asser- 

 tion of Mr. Sherman would thus gain a credence 

 which might require years to eradicate. 



By a few plain facts, therefore, I intend briefly 

 to prove the falsity of this assertion. Mr. Sherman 

 tells me he thinks he has a perfect right to advance 

 this theory. In Natural History there should be 

 no theory, for it is a study of observation, and the 

 little history of each individual animal is a fact 

 rather than a theory. That of the Chinch Bug 

 may be set forth as follows : In Spring, when the 

 grain has started, those which have hybernated sally 

 out into the fields and attach their eggs to the roots 

 of the young grain wherever they find crevices and 

 uneven surfaces which afibrd access to them. These 

 eggs are yellow, and not so extremely small but 

 what they maybe readily seen with a little scrutiny. 

 As they mature and the young bug is about to hatch, 

 they acquire a deeper yellow or reddish tinge, and 

 presently the little red fellow escapes, and in course 

 of time becomes a perfect insect. They then pair 

 and provide for another generation, which attains 

 its full growth as Winter approaches, and soon seeks 

 its Winter quarters. Thus there are two genera- 

 tions here, although in a more southern latitude, 

 where the Summer season is longer, there may be 

 three or four. 



This is the simple history of the Chinch Bug, as 

 all who have observed it know full well, and although 

 this communication might be greatly extended with 

 further proof that the eggs are not deposited in the 



wheat kernels, I deem it quite unnecessary so to 

 waste time and space. The simple truth is proof 

 enough, and to make assurance doubly sure I wil 

 state, that by request, Mr. Sherman sent me some 

 of the wheat said to be infested with the eggs, and 

 after thoroughly examining every grain with a pow- 

 erful microscope, and after submitting them to 

 others for examination, we have concluded that Mr. 

 S. must have been laboring under a delusion, for no 

 trace of eggs of any kind, or of anything that had 

 the remotest semblance thereto, was to be found ; 

 therefore, without advising farmers to discontinue 

 steeping their grain in brine or other solutions, (for 

 they doubtless give the young plants a vigorous 

 start) let them understand clearly, that they do not 

 kill any Chinch Bugs by the operation, and they 

 should therefore rather rely on the more sensible 

 means of burning all the grass, cornstalks, weeds, 

 etc., on and around their fields, before the ground 

 is thawed out, and of rolling the ground when the 

 grain is in. C. V. EILEY. 



Chicago, III., March 5, 1866. 



BLACK-KNOT. 



BY BENJ. D. WALSH, M. A. 



What is Black-knot? It is a black, puffy, irre-" 

 gular swelling on the twigs and smaller limbs of 

 Plum and Cherry trees, and, in one instance that 

 came under my personal observation, of Peach-trees, 

 making its first appearance in the latitude of New 

 York early in June and attaining its full growth by 

 the end of July. Usually a tree that is attacked in 

 this manner is affected worse and worse every year 

 until it is finally killed, and wherever one tree of a 

 group is affected, the malady usually spreads to them 

 all in process of time. In 1865 whole Cherry or- 

 chards were destroyed in Western New York by 

 this disease, and I have myself seen many groups 

 of wild Plum trees in Illinois that were gradually 

 perishing by it ; but in Southern Ohio, as I was 

 told some years ago by the well-known pomologist, 

 Dr. Warder, the Black-knot is never met with. In 

 the Eastern States it has been observed for time 

 immemorial, and various contradictory opinions have 

 been broached as to its real nature and origin. 



In 1865 I watched the Black-knot carefully 

 through all its stages, from its earliest commence- 

 ment to its complete maturity, experimenting at the 

 same time on numerous specimens collected week 

 after week, so as to ascertain what insects bred in it. 

 The practical conclusion I have arrived at is simply 

 this : — If the diseased tio'ffs are all cut off and de- 

 ttroyed early in July in the latitude of New Yorky 



