﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 19 



tain London journals, of Col. F. Becker's communication to the 

 Gartenlauhe, which I referred to in my Sixth Report (p. 15). He thus 

 lances his criticisms at imaginary errors, and in attempting to be deep 

 becomes extremely shallow. 



THE CHINCH B\]G—Micropus leucopterus (Say). 

 (Subord. Heteroptera; Fam. Lyg.eid.e.) 



Never, perhaps, in the history of the country, and certainly never 

 in the history of the State of Missouri, was the Chinch Bug so disas- 

 trous in its work as during the year 1874. This fact is explained in 

 part by the very dry weather which prevailed during early summer in 

 the Northwestern States — weather favorable to the insect's well-being 

 and multiplication— but was also greatly due to the very dry Fall of 

 1873 and the following comparatively mild and dry Winter ; conditions 

 that permitted the survival of an unusually large number of the bugs, 

 which dispersed over our fields in the spring and gave birth to myriad 

 young, which throve and prospered amazingly. In order to gather as 

 complete statistics as possible about this insect in Missouri, I sent the 

 following questions to several prominent farmers in every county in 

 the State: 



1. How far back in the history of your county has this insect (the Chinch Bug) 

 been known to injure the grain and grass crops? 



2. What crops have suffered most from its ravages"? 



'i. Have any systematic efforts ever been made to overcome its injuries ; and have 

 you any idea to what extent my Second Report — whicli contained what was known 

 about the insect up to that time, and which was bound in with the Fifth (1869) State 

 Agricultural Keport — is distributed or known of among the formers of your county? 



4. Give approximately this year's estimated damage in your county, by this 

 single insect — all crops affected by it considered. 



Replies to these questions have been received from nearly every 

 county, and I am under obligations to the many gentlemen through- 

 out the State who have thus assisted me. To publish these replies in 

 full would occupy altogether too much space, and would be unneces- 

 sary ; yet, as there is much valuable experience contained in them, I 

 have brought together such parts as will most generally interest the 

 farmers of the State, in an Appendix at the end of this article. 



It will be seen that the replies to the third question are almost 

 unanimous to the effect that little or nothing is known or has been 

 seen of the Second Entomological Report ; and it is for this reason 

 and from the number of letters of inquiry about the insect that 

 reached me about harvest time last Summer, that I deem it advisable 

 to give a full account of the Chinch Bug in the present volume, repro- 



