141 
true Chinch Bug, for which it is frequently mistaken. Its scientific name is Nysius 
angustatus Uhler, and it is somewhat closely allied to the true Chinch Bug both in 
systematic position and in habit. An account of it is given in the report of the Ento- 
mologist contained in the Annual Report of this Department for 1884, pp. 315-317. It 
is a very general feeder, and in fact there are but few plants that it will not attack. 
It frequently occurs in injurious numbers, particularly in the Mississippi Valley and 
westward. It mostly affects garden crops, such as potatoes, turnips, cabbages, 
etc., and small fruits, such as the strawberry, but is not often a serious pest of 
cereals * * *.—[September 8, 1891. ] 
Kerosene Emulsion successful against the Chinch Bug. 
The kerosene emulsion has been satisfactory to us in preventing chinch bugs 
from injuring the corn. We are trying the remedy at a farm 4 miles out of town. 
The bugs were very numerous in an 8-acre field of winter wheat. When this was cut 
most of them moved to an oat field adjoining, but a good many toa cornfield which 
corners on the wheat field. The owner had tried to kill them with Paris green, ap- 
plied as for the Colorado potato beetle. The Paris green mixture injured the corn 
somewhat, but had not killed a bug as far as I could see. Four rows back we cut 
out the corn. A deep furrow was plowed along this vacant space in which green 
corn was placed. The bugs traveled from the grain field and attacked the corn out- 
side the furrow as well as that lying in it. We used the kerosene emulsion, diluting 
it one to ten, applying it with a sprinkling pot, washing them off the standing corn 
and sprinkling the stalks in the furrow, applying every second or third day. We 
have followed this plan now for about ten days, and must keep it up a few days 
longer since most of the bugs are in the oats, which are nearly ready tocut. As soon 
as the oats are cut, of course they will move on to the corn. This will bring on the 
last contest. There is no question of winning if we persist. I hear of the remedy 
being successfully used in several parts of the State. I inclose a copy of the circu- 
lar which was most hastily prepared and sent out over the State from this station. 
‘I also inclose a letter from Dr. E. Fred Russell, of Poynette, Wis. It was at Dr. 
Russell’s place that I saw the emulsion first used. He was following closely the 
directions given by you on page 81 of the report of the Department of Agriculture 
tor 1887. It gives me great pleasure to have this opportunity of bearing testimony 
to the good results to our agriculture from your Division.—[W. A. Henry, Wiscon- 
sin, August 3, 1891. 
Old Broods of the Periodical Cicada. 
The writer has witnessed every periodical advent of the ‘‘Seventeen-year Locust” 
( Cicada septendecim) in this present century—1817, 1834, 1851, 1868, 1885—and in course 
its next appearance will be in June, 1902. Although a schoolboy in 1817, I remem- 
ber how it delighted me as I passed along the woody school path to give the droop- 
ing limbs of the forest, bending with these winged insects, a sudden jerk and see them 
hunt other resting places. They were more numerous that year than we have seen 
themsince. The gray squirrel, in 1834 especially, fattened on them, as both were far 
more plentiful in those primitive days. 
The belt of country in which these insects make their appearance in the years given 
above runs through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, eastward; in 
localities north and south of this they have other years of maturity. The Thirteen- 
year Locust is unknown to the writer. 
We have noticed that in all these years the seasons were always favorable for their 
appearance, an early opening of spring and fine favorable weather following, their 
advent commencing the 1st of June and lasting through that month. Although 
three weeks are given as the period of their winged state in sunshine, yet all do not 
leave the ground in one day and cast their mundane coats, so their day seems longer.— 
{Luke Smith Motte, Ohio. 
