28 PAPERS ON CEREAL AND EORAGE INSECTS. 



11-14) checked their ravages and killed great numbers of both the 

 young and the old bugs. The rains were light from May 15 to 27, 

 and during this interval the young chinch bugs became very abundant. 

 On some wheat plants there were as many as 240 young bugs, while 

 other wheat plants were free from them; infested wheat plants 

 turned yellow and died, owing entirely to the effects of their attack. 

 The heavy downpour of rain on the night of May 27 buried thousands 

 of chinch bugs in the loose soil and again put a temporary check on 

 their ravages. This rain was the last one of any importance until 

 the night of June 22. By June 8 most of the bugs had changed to a 

 brown color and few red ones remained among them; several eggs 

 were observed on wheat roots. By June 14 the young chinch bugs 

 were very abundant on the stems and leaves of wheat, and 300 to 500 

 bugs per tiller were counted on several plants, winch were turning 

 white and dying before the grain had matured. The ground was 

 covered with moving insects but in no instance were the chinch bugs 

 leaving the wheat fields. Five days later the wheat was prematurely 

 "ripened" through insect attack and the hot sunshine. The " ripen- 

 ing" grain forced them to seek food elsewhere and on June 21 they 

 began to migrate from wheat to corn. The grains in the heads of the 

 severely attacked tillers were small and considerably shriveled, while 

 grains in heads which had not been attacked were full size and plump. 

 Great numbers which were migrating on June 22 were temporarily 

 checked by a light shower, only to continue the movement as soon as 

 the grass became dry. At night, however, a very heavy beating rain 

 fell, burying millions of bugs of all ages and sizes in the mud. The 

 mud-covered bugs nearly all died and those not dead by the next day 

 were found stuck fast in the mud. The ground dried out by noon of 

 June 24, and the bugs that were not killed by the rain continued 

 migrating toward the cornfield. In an area of 4 square feet in a 

 wheat field there were 2,411 dead chinch bugs, some of them buried 

 one-half an inch in the soil. In an area of 10 square feet in the same 

 field there were only 244 living chinch bugs, all of which were moving 

 toward an adjacent cornfield where they collected in masses on the 

 outer rows. 



The weather was quite dry during the next few weeks and the bugs 

 did considerable damage to young corn, some fields being almost 

 devastated. The bugs began to transform to adults about July 5, 

 and their ravages ceased within a week thereafter. There were 

 hordes of adult bugs scattered throughout the cornfields, and these 

 were mating and depositing eggs. 



By the middle of August, when most of the corn had matured and 

 dried, there were again great numbers of young bugs on the corn 

 plants even under the outer husks below and about the bases of the 

 ears; the greener plants were much infested. The corn now began 



