64 THE CHINCH BUG. 
fields, if present in sufficient abundance during the breeding- season, 
by the use of the fungus Sporotrichium globuliferum, if promptly and 
carefully applied. They can be destroyed while in the act of migrating 
from one field to another by tarred barriers, or deep furrows supple- 
mented by post holes, and by being buried under the surface of the 
ground with the plow and harrow ; or the latter method can be applied 
after the bugs have been massed upon plots of some kind of vegetation 
for which the bugs are known to have a special fondness, which decoys 
should be so arranged as to either attract the females and induce them 
to oviposit therein, or they should be arranged with the idea of inter- 
cepting an invasion from wheatnelds into cornfields, and, by turning 
these decoys under with a plow and immediately smoothing and pack- 
ing the surface by harrow and roller, thus destroying them. While in 
the cornfields they can be destroyed on the plants by applications of 
kerosene emulsion. Without vigilance and prompt action, however, 
only indifferent results are to be expected from any of these measures. 
INSECTS THAT ARE MISTAKEN FOR CHINCH BUGS. 
Messrs. Osborn and Mally* have given a list of twelve species of 
Heniiptera which have been mistaken with more or less frequency for 
the chinch bug, the list being as follows: 
Nysius angustatus TJhl., the false chinch bug (fig. 13), is probably the 
most frequently mistaken for the true chinch bug, as it often breeds in 
considerable numbers under purslane, ama- 
ranth, etc., and more than any other insect 
resembles the chinch bug. It is, however, 
of a light-gray color, which will always dis- 
tinguish it from its more destructive fellow. 
Ischnodemus f aliens Say, or the long chinch 
bug, as it is sometimes called, is much larger 
and longer than the true chinch bug. 
Ischnorhynchus didymus Zett. is more 
Fig. 13.— Nystius angustatus : b, pu- 
pa ; c, mature bug (from Eiiey). robust, ol a light-tawny color, with promi- 
nent, glassy wings. 
Peliopelta abbreviata TJhl. is, next to the false chinch bug, probably 
the most often mistaken for the true insect, and especially is this true 
in localities where the brachypterous form of Blissus leiicopterus 
abounds. In timothy meadows I have more than once been misled. 
Its broader head and body, however, quickly enabled me to distin- 
guish it. 
Geocoris fuliginosus Say, G. borealis Dallas, G. bullatus Say, and G. 
Umbatus Stal., according to Osborn and Mally, have all been confused 
with the chinch bug in Iowa. These are all broader and flatter than 
the true chinch bug, the head being nearly as wide as the thorax. 
* Bulletin No. 32, Iowa Agricultural College Experiment Station, pp. 363-385. 
