78 THE CHINCH BUG. 
and so in time, in the generation of our species, which originally, perhaps, was full 
winged, the winged form became less and less numerous, until to-day we see almost 
entirely brachypterous individuals in the adult stage, exactly the same as in the 
bedbug, Acanthia lectularia, with this difference, that among the swarming masses 
of the latter nowadaj^s not a single example with fully developed wings can be 
ound, fortunately for us. 
It is evident that the long- winged tendency in B. dorice is disappearing, and the 
time may come when one will be unable to find any long-winged specimens. The 
designated dangers, on the contrary, against which the chinch bug must fight in 
North America require very strong migratory powers, and, consequently, well- 
developed wings, through which this especially significant difference between 
B. dorice and B. leucopterus has been brought about. 
As to the question whether or not our species shall be considered injurious, I can 
answer that it in nowise belongs to the entirely indifferent insects, but, on the con- 
trary, contributes to the complete drying up of the rather sparse grasses of our 
steppe meadows during the summer. But since it has not thus far housed in the 
cultivated fields, it can not be placed upon the black list of serious depredators. 
Whether, moreover, in the future, when in consequence of the continued destruction 
of its herding meadows, its original food plants disappear more and more, B. dorice 
may become, like so many other insect species, a depredator through necessity can 
only be conjectured. We have in this regard already recorded entirely too many 
remarkable transformations in the menu of other species to disregard entirely the 
possibility of a similar transformation in the life habits of our B. dorice. 
I wish also at this time to state, for the benefit of our many readers who may not 
be familiar with it, that in the dimorphic bugs, especially those in which the inacrop- 
terous and brachypterous forms are found simultaneously, the former possess a much 
strouger and broader thorax than the latter. As a result of this difference in their 
physical structure, one is, when comparing them for the first time, easily inclined to 
designate them as two distinct species. 
In addition to this, there is in Blissus the strikingly beautiful coloration of the 
long-winged specimens, whose clavus and corium are light ocher-yellow, and the 
unusually large membrane, which is about twice as large as corium and clavus 
together, and of an entirely milk-white color, making the long-winged individuals 
very prepossessing. The individuals with rudimentary wings, on the contrary, are 
of an obscure chocolate brown. The larvae are, as has already been stated, of a 
bright vermilion-red color, marked with black. 7 * 
With the foregoing relative to the habits of an allied species of 
Blissus, it seems to me that we can the better understand how, under 
one set of conditions, all traces of a short-winged form might entirely 
disappear, while with another set of conditions this tendency might 
not only be perpetuated, but greatly emphasized. The two species, 
B. leucopterus and B. dorice, are fully illustrated in all stages of devel- 
opment, as well as both macropterous and brachypterous forms. (See 
figs, on pp. 19, 20, 76). For specimens of the latter species, B. dorice, 
I am indebted to Professor Sajo. 
PREVIOUS IDEAS ON THE DIFFUSION OF THE CHINCH BUG. 
Formerly, it was supposed that the chinch bug was a native of the 
Atlantic coast States, and that it made its way westward with the 
advance of civilization and the consequent progress of wheat growing. 
* Translated from the German by my assistant, Mr. C. W. Mally. 
