THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



177 



The Cliiiich Bug this year has ruined a great many 

 lielils of corn in this neighliorlioiHl, and I attrilmtc tlie 

 lailure of our wlieat crop to tlie same insert. Tlie ears 

 hecanie dead just wlien the dougli of tlie ki'iaii'l was 

 forming, tliat is, when the kernel was in the milky 

 state. As the Chinch J)Ug was in our wheat fields hy 

 millions, I suppose that, in consequence of its alistraet- 

 ing the sap of the plant, the ears could not till. 



Tims it appears that throughout a largo dis- 

 Ir'wt of Southern Illinois, whore there was 

 long-coiitimietl drought during tlic suniuior of 

 18G8, tlie Cliiuoh Bug was vorj- numerous and 

 very destructive that summer. On the con- 

 trary, in Nortlieru Illinois, wliich did not expe- 

 rience any scarcity of seasonable rains in the 

 summer of 1868, there was no complaint what- 

 ever of the Chinch Bug, although a few solitary 

 specimens wore noticed there that summer even 

 oil the extreme northern verge of the State, 

 a«, for example, by Mr. Elisha Ciridloy, at 

 Half Day, Lake Co. 



The above quoted cases will probably 

 be enough to satisfy the reader, as to (he 

 truth of the common old-fashioned tlieory, 

 the fallaciousness of Dr. Shimor's new-fangled 

 notion, and the unreliability of that geni Ionian's 

 entomological prophecies. But, if necessary, 

 it would bo easy to multiply such communica- 

 tions as these from other sources ; and we have 

 ourselves, in the course of our peregrinations 

 through Southern and Central Illinois, heard of 

 other such cases in other counties. It is cer- 

 tainly most unfortunate for the sciontiflc repu- 

 tation of a naturalist, that after he had pledged 

 that reputation in February upon the assertion, 

 that the Chinch Bug could never swarm as it 

 used to do iii Illinois for man)' years to come, 

 the little rascal should be provoking enough to 

 do so only six months afterwards I We fear, 

 however, that, in spile of the notorious falsifi- 

 cation of his prophecies, the prophet will blame 

 us greatly for " tilling our pages with the unre- 

 liable and worthless sayings of incorrect ob- 

 servers, chiefly correspondents." But, for our 

 own part, we mu.st say that we set mucli more 

 store by ten lines of plain facts from the pen of a 

 l)ractical farmer than by a whole printed volume 

 of physiological speculations from a Doctor of 

 Medicine, about " the precipitation of watery 

 vapor in the bronchial tubes of a Chinch Bug." 



[TO I!E COXOLUDKD IX OUIt NEXT SUMBlilt] 



j:r°Assome of our exchahgts may wish to 

 illustrate any article they may copy from the 

 American Entomologist, we have decided to 

 furnish electrotypes of our wood cuts, at one- 

 half the cost of engraving ; these electrotypes to 

 be retained by the parties receiving (hem, if 

 fhev desire it. 



THE GRAPE-BERRY MOTH. 



(Pcnthina vitivorana, Packard.) 

 [Fig. 123] 



It is surprising to notice what a groat change 

 sometimes takes place in the fauna and flora of 

 a newly settled country like our own, in the 

 short space, even, of a single decade of years. 

 It is a well knowu fact among botanists that a 

 groat many of our indigenous North American 

 plants have already become almost, if 

 not quite extinct, while other species and 

 varieties have taken their places ; and the 

 entomologist who collects, for a dozen years, 

 in one and the same locality — no matter how 

 limited that locality may be — is pretty sure to 

 find new species every year, while many 

 of those which he first found in abundance 

 cither become rare or dis.ippear entirely. 

 The late Dr. Harris, writing (o Mr. 

 Edward Newman, in 1844, remarked: "Were 

 I to be required to say in one word 

 What is the System of JSfature? I should say, 

 Variety;" and if a second word were to be 

 added, wc think that word should be, Change I 

 Scarcely a year pas.ses but some new insect 

 foe suddenly makes its appearance amongst 

 us ; and were it not for the fact that the rav- 

 ages of others are at the same time abating, 

 the destruction which they unitedly would 

 cause would be intolerable. 



The in«^cct which forms the subject of (his 

 article may be cited as an illustraliou of such a 

 sijdden appearance in many diH'erent parts of 

 the country, for until last ) ear no account of it 

 had ever been published, and it was entirely 

 unknown to science. It had, however, been 

 observed at Iludson, Ohio, for three or four 

 years past, by Mr. M. C. Head, of that place, 

 and .several gentlemen who live in diltcrent 

 parts of Missouri and South Illinois have 

 inloruied us that thcj' have also been accpiainted 

 Avith it for about that number of years, though 

 they all testify that it has gadually been on the 

 increase, and that it was never so numerous as 

 last year. Last summer we received specimens 



