Black Beet-seed Louse 

 True Bugs False Chinch Bug 



and several varieties of beans, especially the horse bean of Europe. In 

 the fall the migrants return to the winter host, where the sexual forms 

 mate and the eggs are produced. 



2. THE TRUE BUGS 



People who are not familiar with their classifications are apt to apply 

 the word "bug" to all insects. However, strictly speaking, this name 

 is only properly applied to those sucking insects belonging to the order 

 Hemiptera. Many authors confine the term to individuals of the 

 sub-order Heteroptera. Like most of the scientific names of insects, 

 this one seems unnecessarily long and meaningless to the average reader. 

 It is taken from two Greek words, "heteros," meaning diverse, and 

 "petron," a wing, and was suggested by the peculiar form of the wing of 

 these bugs. 



The common stink-bug so frequently encountered on raspberries 

 and other small fruits and the notorious chinch bug of the grain fields of 

 the Mississippi Valley are familiar representatives of this group. 



Several species attack the sugar beet, of which the false chinch bug 

 is the most important in the arid West. 



(a) FALSE CHINCH BUG 



(Figs. 11 and 12, Plate VIII, Page 25) 



This insect has attracted quite widespread attention because of its 

 damage to sugar beet seed. When very numerous it has been known 

 seriously to injure commercial sugar beets also. 



NATURE OF INJURY 



In feeding, the false chinch bug congregates in compact masses upon 

 a few plants. The juice of these plants is so rapidly exhausted that they 

 wilt and become lifeless in a very short time. 



When attacking commercial beets the bugs congregate about the 

 crowns of small plants, or on the leaves, which soon become wilted and 

 dead. The growth of commercial beets is very much retarded and in 

 extreme cases small beets are killed. 



The growing tips of the branches of seed beets are attacked. The 

 sap of these is soon so exhausted that they droop and die. The yield of 

 seed is very much reduced by the feeding of this pest. 



When the sap of one plant is exhausted the bugs move to others, 

 and as they are strong fliers and voracious feeders they affect large areas 

 in a short time. 



Fields of commercial beets near waste land overgrown with pepper- 

 grass or shepherd's purse and other plants of the mustard family are 

 quite apt to be attacked. 



The odor of the blossoms of seed beets seems to attract the false 

 chinch bug, which usually appears in seed fields about the time the plants 

 begin to bloom. Of course the proximity of infested land to seed fields 

 increases the infestation, at least early in the season. 



119 



