THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



corn nearest to the stubble, was so covered with 

 them, as to appear, at a little distance, as if cov- 

 ered with black paint. The corn was backward 

 and dwarfish, and the season excessively dry, both 

 of which circumstances favored their destructive 

 effects. About fifteen acres of corn was destroyed 

 by them. They swept over about forty acres more, 

 some parts of which were nearly destroyed, others 

 only slightly injured. One of my neighbours, had 

 twenty-six acres of corn completely destroyed by 

 them last summer, and fifty acres more greatly 

 damaged. There was not a cornfield on the prairie, 

 in which the crop was not greatly damaged. I do 

 not know that they have ever been seen in this re- 

 gion, anywhere else than on the prairies, till last 

 summer. Then, they were seen on farms formerly 

 covered with timber, many miles distant from any 

 prairie. 



The attention of people here, was so thoroughly 

 called to this insect, last summer, that when it ap- 

 peared this spring, it was readily recognized. It 

 was first observed on fences, or flying about, and 

 alighting here and theie, like other winged insects. 

 Soon it was found about the roots of wheat, — then 

 in oat fields, and in timothy grass. Wherever it has 

 been seen among grain or grass, some of the blades 

 were seen to turn yellow, and the growth to be 

 checked, or stopped entirely ; and in many cases, 

 the whole plant completely killed. Probably, not 

 less than one third of the wheat crop, in this vi- 

 cinity has already been destroyed by them ; and 

 their destructive operations are still in progress. 



The reasons why they have not before been ob- 

 served in the early part of the season, are these. — 

 In the first place, they have never before been so 

 numerous in the spring season, as at present. And 

 next, when in wheat they are usually partly or en- 

 tirely concealed by the blades near the root ; and 

 would not be likely to be distinguished from other 

 insects without close observation, R. C, Smith. 



Comments on the above 

 By Dr. A. Fitch. 



Mr. Tucker — The facts which are embodied in 

 the communication from Mr. Smith, of Indiana, 

 are deeply interesting, and well merit insertion in 

 your widely circulated publications, as they form 

 a valuable addition to what is already upon record, 

 respecting one of the most pernicious insects in our 

 country. Some notices of this same insect, from 

 correspondents in North Carolina, may be found in 

 the early volumes of the Cultivator, and valuable 

 articles relating to it, from the pens of Dr. Le Bar- 

 ron and others, may be met with in recent volumes 

 of the Prairie Farmer. As the specimens in the 

 quill, forwarded by Mr. Smith show, it is the same 

 insect which, in an excursion through Northern Il- 

 linois, last autumn, I found in myriads, over a 

 large district of country ; and from all quarters, I 

 received accounts of its destructiveness,.of much 

 the same purport as is given in Mr. Smith's com- 

 munication. As soon as I obtain leisure, I will 

 prepaie a description and history of this important 

 insect, for your readers ; and therefore, I merely 

 observe at present, that it is the insect which is 

 generally known by the name of the Chinch Bug 

 — not Chintz, as the word is sometimes erroneously 

 spelled. I have searched my library in vain for 

 information as to the derivation and import of this 

 word — Ctuoch. Webater a-upposes it to com* from 



the Latin name for a bug, cimex, through the Ital- 

 ian cwricc, but this appears to me to be rather far- 

 fetched and doubtful. In Dr. Hill's Decade of Cu- 

 rious Insects, published in 1773, a species of Thrips 

 is described under the name of the Straw-colored 

 Chinch. And if any one under whose eye these 

 remarks fall, is sufficiently versed in philology to 

 throw any light upon the origin of this word, we 

 shall be happy to have him do so ; for, in connec- 

 tion with this insect, it has become current in our 

 country, and will thus be perpetuated. 



Though the name Chinch bug is generally ap- 

 plied to this insect, it has obtained other names in 

 particular localities. All over North-Western Il- 

 linois, they have been called Mormon lice, in con- 

 sequence of their having come into that section 

 about the same time that the self-styled Latter-day 

 Saints commenced their settlement at Nau'voo, ma- 

 ny ignorant people firmly believing the}* were in- 

 troduced theie by these deluded fanatics. And it 

 appears from Mr. Smith's letter, that in his vicinity, 

 this insect is called the Corn fly. This name, how- 

 ever, Mr. Smith himself will be aware, when he re- 

 flects further, is by no means so appropriate for 

 this insect, as he supposed at the moment of wri- 

 ting. The name " fly" properly belongs only to in- 

 sects with clear and glass-like wings, like the com- 

 mon house-fly ; while the name " bug," although 

 it is in this country currently applied to almost all 

 insects, strictly belongs only to those which pertain 

 to the Order Hemiptera, which embraces all those 

 fiat-backed insects which have a slender, sharp- 

 pointed beak, for puncturing and sucking the flu- 

 ids of those plants or animals which they infest — 

 such insects as the common squash or pumpkin 

 bug, and that disgusting object which at one 

 time and another has obtruded itself upon the no- 

 tice of every person in our land, the bed-bug. The 

 species under consideration, moreover, exhales the 

 some disagreeable odor which is peculiar to the 

 insects of this group. There can, therefore, be no- 

 more appropriate name for it, than that by which 

 it has been so long and so widely known — that of 

 Chinch Bug. 



This insect was first scientifically described by 

 Mr. Say, in a pamphlet upon North American in- 

 sects of this order, published at New Harmony, In- 

 diana, in 1831. He described it under the name 

 of iAjgceus leucoptcrus, i.e., the white-winged Ly- 

 gceus. Since that time the genus Isygausk&s been 

 cut up into quite a number of new genera, and I 

 not aware that it has ever been published, to which 

 of these our insect pertains. It belongs to the 

 oenus Micropus, proposed by the French entomolist, 

 M. Spinolo, in his Essay upon Hemipterous Insects, 

 published in 1840, page 218. This name, derived 

 from a couple of Greek words, meaning small-footed, 

 has allusion to the legs of these insects, which are 

 not long and slender, and the hind pair in particu- 

 lar are no longer than the others, contrary to what 

 is generally the case in the insects of this group. 

 Microjnis leucopterus, therefore, is now the correct 

 technical name of the Chinch bug. 



It is a singular fact, and one which shows that 

 the science of entomology is of almost endless ex- 

 tent, that in those parts of Europe, where for sev- 

 eral generations a host of collectors and men of 

 science have been assidiously engaged in gather- 

 ing and describing every insect which those coun- 

 tries contain, new species continue to turn up al- 

 most every year. Even in the environs of the city 

 of Pari*, which may be regarded as the frtfao 



