170 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



live from hand to mouth. Suppose, for exam- 

 ple, that a certain grain-grower is holding over 

 a thousand bushels of good plump wheat, 

 uncertain whether or not to throw that amount 

 into market in the spring of "G9; and sup- 

 pose, from what he reads in the A.mkricax 

 Entomologist, he becomes aware that the 

 wheat crop of '09 is likely to be badlj- shrunken 

 by the Chinch Bng, so that a good article of 

 wheat will command a much higher price in 

 the autumn of '69 than in the spring of "09 — say 

 fifty cents per bushel more. If this grain- 

 grower holds over his wheat and realizes the 

 additional price upon it, he then clears $500, 

 less six months' interest on what the price would 

 have been in the spring and deducting also for 

 the wastage in the granary ; and so in propor- 

 tion for any smaller amount of wheat that he 

 holds onto. Surely, then — assuming the state 

 of things to be as represented above — he ought 

 not to grudge the paltry dollar, that he pays for 

 the information upon which his successful 

 speculation is based. 



But, besides enabling the Western wheat- 

 grower to tell beforehand whether the Chinch 

 Bug is, or is not, likely to be destructive in the 

 ensuing season, we shall point out the most 

 effective means to prevent its undue multipli- 

 cation, and shall moreover give a few hints as 

 the best mode of fighting it when it is already 

 in great force upon the farmer's crops. We do 

 not profess to ofier anj^ new and original inven- 

 tion for these two very important objects . Quite 

 the contrary. Almost everything that we have 

 to say upon this subject has already appeared 

 in print. But, seeing that such a vast mass of 

 contradictory and impossible absurdities has 

 been put forth about this insect, surely it is 

 something considerable gained, if we can suc- 

 ceed in winnowing away the chaff from the 

 wheat, and present our readers with the pure 

 truth unalloyed by misstatement and error. 



In investigating the Natural History of this 

 insect — which is in every case the first step to 

 be taken before we can begin to talk about any 

 rational remedy — we shall be compelled to cri- 

 ticize, perhaps with undue severity, some of 

 those who have criticized us. As for ourselves, 

 we have never claimed to be infallible, and 

 have never felt in the least offended or annoyed, 

 at having our statements corrected and our in- 

 ferences called in question, by authors who have 

 thought fit to do either the one or the other. 

 We hope, therefore, that these authors will not 

 begnidge us the privilege which they haye so 

 freely exercised themselves. 



Past History of tlie Chinch Bug. 



The first record we have of the prevalence of 

 the (jhinch Bug was in the old Eevolutionary 

 times in Xorth Carolina, where it was con- 

 founded with the Hessian Flj'', an insect just 

 then imported from Europe into the United 

 States. Ever since these times it has been an 

 epidemic pest, in pai'ticular yeari-, in North and 

 South Carolina and in Virginia. The great 

 American entomologist, Thomas Say, in 1831, 

 when he had been residing in Indiana for six 

 j'ears, was the first to name and describe it sci- 

 entifically. He states that he " took a single 

 specimen on the Eastern shore of Virginia;'' 

 whence we may reasonably infer that it was 

 then either unknown or very rare in Indiana, 

 and probably also in the other Western States. 

 In Illinois it was first noticed in the year 1840 

 in Hancock county, whicii lies on the extreme 

 western border of Central Illinois; and being 

 absurdly supposed to have been introduced by 

 the Mormons of Nauvoo was called the " Mor- 

 mon louse." In Mercer Co., which lies 

 about GO miles to the North-east of Hancock, it 

 was not observed by the farmers, as we learn 

 from Mr. Wni. R. Biggs of that county, till the 

 year 1845. In Winnebago Co., which lies 

 about 110 miles still 'further to the North-east, 

 " the first year of Chinch bug," according to 

 Mr. D. S. Pardee of that county, was 1849.* 

 In DeKalb Co., which lies immediately to the 

 South-east of Winnebago, it was first noticed 

 in 1850, according to Wm. Patten, of Sand- 

 wich, in that county. In LaSalle Co., which 

 lies immediately South of DeKalb, accord- 

 ing to Charles Hastings of that county, it 

 was not observed by farmers till the year 

 1854, and even then it did but little damage, 

 though in '55 it was very destructive there. f 

 But, according to the more reliable testimony 

 of Dr. LeBaron, of Geneva, Kane county, it 

 prevailed in 1850 throughout Kane and the ad- 

 joining counties [DeKalb, Kendall, DuPage, 

 Cook and McHenr)^] in ruinous profusion.^ 



Putting all these facts together, we may con- 

 clude, either that the Chinch Bug gradually 

 spread into Illinois and the other Western 

 States from North and South Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia^ust as the Hessian Ply, the Wheat 

 Midge, the Locust-borer, and the Imported or 

 Oyster-shell Bark-louse have spread there from 

 the Eastern States — or else, which we rather 

 incline to believe, that it has always existed in 



♦See Trans. HI. St. Agr. Society, IV. p. 314. 

 t These two last statements are ciuotecl on the authority of 

 Fitch, N. Y. Rep. 1. p. 284. 



t See his excellent article on the Chinch Bug iu Prairie 

 Fanner, Sept., 1S50, p. 280. 



