CORISI^E. 



543 



long as the body, and slightly clavate. Lygceus turdcus Fabr. 

 is a typical form. Pyrrhocoris apterus Linn, is usually apter- 

 ous ; occasionally specimens are found with wings. It inhabits 

 Europe. 



The Chinch bug, Blissus leucopterus of Uhler (Fig. 547) is 

 a great enemy of our wheat crops, and, as its specific name 

 indicates, it may be known by the white fore wings, contrasting' 

 well with a black spot on the middle of the edge of the wing. 

 It is about three-twentieths of an inch in length. Harris also 

 states that "the young and wingless individuals are at first 

 bright red, changing with age to brown and black, and are 

 always marked with a white band across the back." Shimer 

 says the female is "occupied about twenty days in laying her 

 eggs, about 500 in number. The larva hatches in fifteen days 

 and there are two broods in a season, the first brood maturing, 

 in Illinois, from the middle of July to the middle of August, 

 and the second late in autumn." According to Harris, the 

 "eggs of the chinch bug are laid in the ground, in which 

 the young have been found, in great abundance, at the depth 

 of an inch or more. 

 They make their 

 appearance on 

 wheat about the 

 middle of June, 

 and may be seen 

 in their various 

 stages of growth 

 on all kinds of 

 grain, on corn, 

 and on herds- 

 during the 



grass, 



I 



Fig. 547. Fig. 548. 



whole summer. Some of them continue alive through the win- 

 ter in their places of concealment." The best remedies are 

 the early sowing of small grain in the spring, fall ploughing 

 and the use of the roller upon land that is loose and friable. 

 Stubble, old straw, and corn stalks among weeds in fence 

 corners should be burned in the early spring. This species 

 is widely diffused, ranging from Kansas and Nebraska to the 

 Atlantic Coast. I have taken it frequently in Maine, and 



