INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



As a necessary part of a systematic investigatiou of the chinch 

 bug from the standpoint of the agriculture of the present day, it 

 has been my duty to scan thoroughly its economic literature with 

 reference to its origin, its native food plants and its relations to 

 nature at large, its spread, its attack upon cultivated crops under 

 varying conditions of latitude, climate, weather, agricultural situa- 

 tion and practice, and the like, and especially its susceptibility to 

 preventive and remedial measures. This task has been so laborious 

 and so irksome that I would gladly save another the repetition of 

 it; and the information obtained, although of very unequal value, 

 seems to me well worthy of re-publication, especially in the interest 

 of those who, connected with agricultural experiment stations in 

 the states subject to the ravages of this insect, will have in future 

 to devise and test measures for meeting its attacks. 



In collecting notes from more or less fugitive agricultural 

 literature, I have not thought it best to exercise a rigorous censor- 

 ship with regard to the accuracy of the matter reported by ordi- 

 nary observers, or even by entomologists, but have made this 

 record, to some extent, a history of error as well as of discovery. 

 On the other hand, T have not commonly thought it worth my 

 while, or of any benefit to others, to renew the life of unmitigated 

 blunders merely because they have happened at some time to find 

 their way into print. 



Concerning the reports of the occurrence or absence of the chinch 

 bug, and the amount of its injuries from year to year in different 

 parts of its area, I have thought it best to give all the informa- 

 tion in my possession, since this is an important part of the 

 material necessary to any thorough study of the relations of this, 

 insect to weather, crops, and agricultural management. While, of 

 ourse, I have not exhausted the sources of information on this 

 topic, I have secured everything bearing on it which I could get 

 access to, and have collected, I think, approximately all of any 

 interest concerning the career of this insect in Illinois. 



For the clerical work of this appendix I am indebted to my 

 amanuensis, Miss Mary J. Snyder, and to two of my assistants,, 

 Messrs. C. M. Weed and John Marten. 



S. A. FORBES. 



