﻿HISTORY 
  OF 
  MICROPHYTOUS 
  DISEASES 
  OF 
  THE 
  CHINCH- 
  

   BUG 
  IN 
  THE 
  UNITED 
  STATES. 
  

  

  From 
  considerations 
  of 
  time 
  and 
  space, 
  I 
  shall 
  present 
  no 
  discussion 
  of 
  

   recorded 
  observations 
  or 
  experiments 
  in 
  epidemic 
  diseases 
  among 
  insects 
  in 
  

   general 
  caused 
  by 
  microphytes, 
  either 
  fungi 
  or 
  bacteria. 
  However, 
  it 
  is 
  

   necessary 
  to 
  pay 
  some 
  attention 
  to 
  the 
  recorded 
  observations 
  on 
  the 
  exist- 
  

   ence 
  and 
  etiology 
  of 
  certain 
  epidemic 
  diseases 
  among 
  chinch-bugs 
  in 
  North 
  

   America. 
  

  

  The 
  chinch-bug 
  has 
  been 
  known 
  as 
  an 
  insect 
  pest 
  of 
  corn 
  and 
  wheat 
  in 
  

   North 
  America 
  since 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  the 
  Revolutionary 
  War. 
  It 
  is 
  recorded 
  

   that 
  fields 
  of 
  wheat 
  in 
  North 
  Carolina 
  were 
  destroyed 
  by 
  the 
  chinch-bug 
  in 
  

   1781. 
  In 
  1831, 
  Thomas 
  Say, 
  the 
  father 
  of 
  American 
  entomology, 
  scientific- 
  

   ally 
  described 
  and 
  named 
  the 
  pest 
  from 
  a 
  single 
  specimen 
  taken 
  in 
  Virginia. 
  

   The 
  first 
  recorded 
  appearance 
  of 
  the 
  chinch-bug 
  in 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  valley 
  was 
  

   in 
  1823* 
  

  

  Reports 
  of 
  the 
  damage 
  to 
  wheat, 
  corn 
  and 
  oats 
  by 
  the 
  chinch-bug 
  are 
  con- 
  

   tinuous 
  since 
  1840. 
  Remedial 
  measures, 
  such 
  as 
  burning 
  field 
  refuse, 
  plowing 
  

   ditches, 
  etc., 
  were 
  early 
  taken 
  up. 
  In 
  1850, 
  William 
  Le 
  Baron, 
  State 
  Ento- 
  

   mologist 
  of 
  Illinois, 
  writing 
  to 
  the 
  Prairie 
  Farmer, 
  treats 
  somewhat 
  of 
  the 
  

   insect's 
  life-history, 
  and 
  in 
  closing 
  says: 
  "It 
  is 
  scarcely 
  probable 
  that 
  any 
  

   preventive 
  or 
  remedy 
  for 
  their 
  devastations 
  will 
  ever 
  be 
  discovered." 
  He 
  

   hopes, 
  however, 
  that 
  nature 
  may 
  have 
  provided 
  some 
  parasitic 
  insect 
  for 
  this 
  

   species 
  "whose 
  origin 
  and 
  progress 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  so 
  wholly 
  removed 
  from 
  the 
  

   reach 
  of 
  human 
  control." 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  recognition 
  of 
  the 
  now 
  well-known 
  phenomena 
  of 
  epidemic 
  dis- 
  

   ease 
  among 
  chinch-bugs 
  was 
  by 
  Dr. 
  Henry 
  Shimer, 
  who 
  published, 
  in 
  1867, 
  in 
  

   the 
  Proceedings 
  of 
  the 
  Academy 
  of 
  Natural 
  Sciences 
  of 
  Philadelphia, 
  Vol. 
  xix, 
  

   pp. 
  75-80, 
  his 
  "Notes 
  on 
  Micropus 
  (Lygceus) 
  leucopterus 
  Say 
  ['The 
  Chinch- 
  

   bug'], 
  with 
  an 
  Account 
  of 
  the 
  Great 
  Epidemic 
  Disease 
  of 
  1865 
  among 
  In- 
  

   sects." 
  He 
  presents 
  a 
  detailed 
  account 
  of 
  his 
  observations 
  in 
  1864 
  and 
  1865,. 
  

   during 
  the 
  well-remembered 
  chinch-bug 
  "uprising" 
  of 
  those 
  years. 
  Dr. 
  

   Shimer 
  noticed 
  the 
  first 
  larvae 
  of 
  the 
  season 
  of 
  1865 
  on 
  June 
  10th 
  (at 
  Mt- 
  

   Carroll, 
  111.), 
  and 
  on 
  June 
  17th 
  noted 
  "millions 
  of 
  young 
  bugs," 
  the 
  parent 
  

   bugs 
  being 
  mostly 
  dead 
  at 
  this 
  time. 
  Quoting 
  from 
  his 
  article 
  ( 
  pp. 
  78-80) 
  : 
  

  

  July 
  16. 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  Find 
  many 
  [chinch-bugs] 
  dying 
  on 
  the 
  low 
  creek-bottom 
  land 
  

   from 
  the 
  effects 
  of 
  some 
  disease, 
  while 
  they 
  are 
  yet 
  in 
  the 
  larva 
  state 
  — 
  a 
  remarkable 
  

   and 
  rare 
  phenomenon 
  for 
  insects 
  thus 
  in 
  such 
  a 
  wholesale 
  manner 
  to 
  be 
  dying 
  without 
  

  

  * 
  Forbes, 
  S. 
  A., 
  in 
  Insect 
  Life, 
  Vol. 
  I, 
  No. 
  8, 
  p. 
  249. 
  

  

  (192) 
  

  

  