226 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



The Chinch Bug, Blissus leucopterus, should be studied 

 in sections where it is important. It will be particularly 

 interesting to experiment with the white fungous disease 

 (see Chapter XXVII) which has been used in recent years 

 to combat the pest. 



The average annual loss which this insect causes to the United 

 States cannot be less than iS2o,ooo,ooo. Howard. 



The Hessian Fly, Cecidomyia destructor. — The adult insect 

 is a minute two-winged fly, the larvae of which live between 

 the sheathing bases of the leaves and in the stalks of 

 wheat near the root. It derives its name from having 

 been introduced, probably, with the bedding straw of the 

 Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and has 

 become, according to Comstock, "perhaps the most serious 

 pest infesting wheat in this country." The larvas and 

 pupae, " flaxseed stage," may be found by opening the 

 leaf sheaths. 



Methods of controlling Insects. — In connection with the dif- 

 ferent insects already described I have laid all the empha- 

 sis on nature's methods. This, it has seemed to me, 

 is the field for nature study. As an intelligent people 

 we can no longer put off the agreeable task of learning 

 the resources of life and nature to the end that we may 

 make the most of the good forces of nature to suppress 

 the evil. The chapters on birds and other insectivorous 

 animals are written, in part, from this point of view. 

 The swallows and swifts, night hawks and flycatchers, 

 with the bats for night police, might sweep the air of 

 insects. The warblers, vireos, cuckoos, wrens, orioles, 

 chickadees, woodpeckers, cedar birds, and others protect 



