1871 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



231 



^ntomolo0g. 



Dr. S. H. Eridelbaitoh, Editor, Claeinda, Iowa. 



^"Send in the Insects,— Dr. K. is chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Entomology for tlie State Ilorticnllural Society, 

 and would take it as a favor to be t'urnislied witli specimens 

 of insects from tlie various localities of ttie State, by mail 

 during this year. Those sending will please state all they 

 know concerning the habits of the insects sent; what they 

 arc found feeding on, etc. 



CIiIucU Bug.— niicropiis Ijencopterus, Say. 



Of the many in.sects whicli feed on cereals, the 

 farmer is uot troubled with one more disastrous 

 than the cliincli bug, (micropiis Icncop/rrun, Sai/,) not 

 even excepting the notorious Colorado potato bee- 

 tle, (OorypUora lO-liiieata.) 



During the winter the rnicropus lencopterits hiber- 

 nates in the rubliish along the fence rows, in the 

 corn stalks in the field, and such other clumps of 

 litter as it may find convenient shelter in, when 

 winter overtakes it. Its color is black and white. 



as represented, great- 

 ly magnified in the 

 annexed figure at fig. 

 2 — (I. A represen- 

 tation of the insect 

 of natural size may 

 be seen at fig. 1 — h. 



It belongs to the 

 sub -order of half- 

 winged bugs, {Hder- 

 optera) and the fami- 

 ly Lyymdip, and is 

 perfumed with the 

 same disagreeable 

 smell, so readily rec- 

 ognized by every one 

 who has ever had to 

 help the good house 



via. 1. — h. 



FIG. 2 — n. 



wife to clean bedsteads of this loathsome human 

 trouble — bed bugs, which also belongs to the same 

 order. 



In early spring it comes out from its winter quar. 

 ters, and commences laying its eggs under ground, 

 on the roots of the varied kinds of plants, always 

 preferring such as are most genial to its taste. 

 These eggs arc very minute, to the naked eye appear 

 as tiny pale amber, white colored dots, but as they 

 grow older they assume a reddish color — the larva? 

 showing through the transparent shell. Dr. Shinier 

 says that the female occupies about three weeks in 

 laying her eggs, of which she deposits about five 

 hundred. That the egg requires about fourteen 

 days to hatch, and the bug becomes full grown and 

 gets wings in from forty to fiftj' days after its hatch- 



ing. Thus it will be seen that this insect passes 

 through its three stages in from fifty-four to sixty- 

 four days, and it is ready to couple and produce an- 

 other generation. At this rate of re-production, if 

 but few pass the winter, it does not require a very 

 long period of time to pass until their numbers are 

 legions. 



Prof. C. V. Riley says in the first volume of the 

 Practical Entomologist, that they are two brooded 

 in Northern Illinois. If this is true, it is but fair to 

 presume that such is the fact in Iowa ; and we have 

 no doubt of this truth when we take into account 

 the enormous ratio in which it increases during each 

 dry season which is favorable to its breeding. It is 

 a notorious fact, which every intelligent and observ- 

 ing fanner can bear witness to, that the chinch bug 

 fiourislies in the dryest spots of the field, and never 

 is troublesome in low and wet places. That It is 

 most disastrous of dry hot seasons and is never very 

 rife in wet seasons. 



This small, narrow fellow sticks its tiny beak into 

 the green succulent vegetation of different kinds 

 and sucks the sap therefrom ; and in such myriads 

 do they invade the wheat fields, that in particular 

 .spots every stalk is covered and crowded by them, 

 and is pumped dry of its juices, causing the infest- 

 ed portion of a field to become of a white color, and 

 the grain to be shrunken and abortive. After the 

 season is passed so far along, and the wheat is har- 

 vested, they take to the corn. So great are their 

 ravages that all farmers dread them, and well they 

 may. 



The chinch bug never has been known to do a 

 great deal of injury in New York and the New Eng- 

 land States, although it has been observed in those 

 States in limited numbers. But in the South where 

 it is a native, and in the Middle and North-western 

 States its disastrous work has some years cost many 

 millions of dollars, while in other years it has ap- 

 peared to not do much harm. Yet it is to be doubt- 

 ed that a year does not pass that, if close observa 

 tion could be had, it would be found that it annual- 

 ly destroys thousands of dollars worth of the grow 

 ing crop. 



Remedies. — Natural remedies have been provided 

 to partially prevent the increase of this terrible 

 pest. Here it is again we witness the value of tlie 

 spotted Ladybird, {Hijypodamia MamlaUi,) the trim 

 Ladybird, (CiKcmnslla Munda,) and to still .smaller 

 insects belonging to the genus (Scymnus) of Lady- 

 birds. Added to these are the labors of the larva; 

 of the Lacewing Plies, [Ghrysnpw) all of which prey 

 upon the chintz bug. 



Although it may not bo regarded as good farming 

 to cut, rake and burn corn stalks and the stubble 

 from harvest fields, on account of the waste of ma- 

 nuring material, yet it is advisable to burn up all 

 such material, at a favorable time for such work, on 



