238 



SCHOOL KNTOMOI.OdY 



large numbers, as do crows and blackbirds. Lanterns hung 

 over pans or tubs of water with a surface film of kerosene, 

 placed near the trees on which the beetles feed, will catch 

 large numbers of them on warm nights. 



138. The Chinch-bug * (16). Though individually in- 

 significant, when assembled in countless myriads chinch- 

 bugs have, doubtless, done greater injury to the farmers of 

 the Mississippi Valley than any other insect attacking grain 

 crops, the total damage from 1850 to 1909 being estimated at 



FIG. 165. The chinch-bug (Blissus leucopterus Say). (After Riley.) 



Adult at left; a, 6, eggs magnified and natural size; c, young nymph; e, second 

 stage of nymph; /, third stage; g, full-grown nymph or pupa; d, h, j, legs; t, 

 beak through which the bug sucks its food. 



$350,000,000. The principal injury is to small grains and 

 corn in the Central and North Central States, though oc- 

 casionally injury occurs in the Eastern States, particularly 

 to old timothy meadows. The adult chinch-bug is about 

 one-fifth of an 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 legs are red. The young bugs are 

 yellowish or bright red, marked with brownish-black, be- 

 coming darker as they grow older. 



* Blissus leucopterus Say. Family Lygcridce, see page 60. 



