90 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The Chinch-bug * 



The adult Chinch-bug is about one-fifth inch long, with a 

 black body. Its white, wings lie folded over each other on the 

 abdomen, and are marked by a small black triangle on their 

 outer margins, while the bases of the antennae and the legs are 

 red. The young bugs are yellowish or bright red marked with 

 brownish-black, becoming darker as they grow older. Along 

 the Atantic coast and along the southern shores of the Great 



FIG. 69. Areas in the United States over which the chinch-bug occurs in most 

 destructive numbers. (After Webster, Dept. Agr., Farmer's Bulletin 

 657.) 



Lakes north of a line from Pittsburg, Pa., to Toledo, Ohio, the 

 majority of the adults have short wings reaching but half over the 

 abdomen and are incapable of flight; but between the Alleghany 

 and Rocky Mountains the long-winged form greatly predominates. 

 It occurs also in restricted localities in Central America and 

 along the Pacific coast. The worst injury is to small grains 

 and corn in the Central and North Central States, but frequently 

 injury is done, in the Eastern States especially, to timothy meadows 

 which have stood for several years. Though individually insig- 

 * Blissus leucopterus Say. Family Lygceidoe. 



