68 THE CHINCH BUG. 
UNIQUE APPEARANCE AND GREGARIOUS HABIT. 
Mr. E. A. Schwarz* sometime ago called attention to "the unique 
appearance of the full-grown chinch bug, with its white wings and 
chalky- white pubescence," which, he declared, "forcibly indicates that 
the insect is either a psammophilous or a maritime species," and 
expressed the opinion that its geographical distribution fully bears 
out the theory that it belongs to the latter class. The same author 
states that the species has the habit of clustering about the roots of 
tufts of grass along the Atlantic coast, from Florida to Atlantic City, 
N. J., and Mr. W. H. Harrington t observed it to have the same habit 
along the seashore at Sydney, Cape Breton, in 1884. The late Dr. J. C. 
Neal, while at Stillwater, Okla., wrote me that he had observed the 
species to have the same habit in that Territory, miles from any human 
habitation. Dr. Asa Fitch f found them swarming amidst extensive 
prairies in Illinois, in 1854, while more recently Mr. C. L. Marlatt has 
witnessed the same phenomenon in Kansas. § In short, this gregarious 
habit seems to be most tenaciously adhered to wherever these insects 
are found in any numbers. Wheu migrating from one field to another, 
after crossing a roadway or plowed field they will at once flock together 
on a few plants along the margin of the, to them, new field instead of 
scattering about, two or three to a plant. It may also be added that 
Mr. Koebele found the species in large numbers along the seashore not 
far from San Francisco, Cal., in the" first, second, and third stages of 
development, on a species of grass growing along the coast. 
It has not, so far as is known to the writer, been observed in similar 
places along the shores of the Great Lakes, though I have searched for 
it there, but it occurs in destructive abundance in timothy meadows 
inland in northeastern Ohio for fully 75 miles, and most generally 
clustering about the roots of grass, which, by the way, is about the 
only vegetation attacked as the species is described as doing along the 
seacoasts. I may say also, that it seems to hibernate there precisely 
as observed by Mr. Marlatt in Kansas ; Dr. Neal in Oklahoma ; Mr. 
Schwarz in Virginia in the vicinity of Fortress Monroe, and as the 
earlier observations of Dr. Fitch in Illinois would imply. Thus we 
find this habit of clustering upon the plants attacked to be a constant 
one, and where the natural grass vegetation has not been displaced by 
farm crops, thus leaving the ground more or less bare during winter, 
they continue to hibernate there. With these two characteristic habits 
generally followed over the great area inhabited by the species in 
North America, we may add a third possible factor in the problem 
of origin and diffusion of the species which, though an anatomical 
diinorpnioin, may be discussed as likely to throw considerable light 
upon the probable ancient habitat of the insect. 
* Insect Life, Vol. VII, p. 420. 
t Can. Ent. Vol. XXVI, p. 218. 
X Second Keport, Insects of New York, p. 283. 
§ Insect Life, Vol. VII, pp. 232-234. 
