12 THE CHINCH BUG. 
It therefore seems probable that no young are ^produced as a result 
of the late pairing, at least until spring, and it has yet to be shown 
that the late appearing larvae do not mature before the hibernating 
season sets in, or else die during the winter. When we come to con- 
sider the extreme susceptibility of the newly hatched chinch bug to 
wet weather, it will be apparent that, as we approach the tropics, the 
wet and dry seasons would exert a powerful influence in regulating 
the breeding seasons, as those individuals that hatched before the 
close of the rainy season would be, largely, at least, continually elimi- 
nated, while those that hatched so late as to be caught in the com- 
mencement of the rainy season would also be to an equally great 
extent destroyed, and thus, by continually restricting the breeding 
period to certain months, establish a fixed law that would be adhered 
to even under the somewhat different conditions which occur farther to 
the northward. Unfortunately, I do not have the date or dates on 
which the young were observed by Mr. Champion, on Yolcan de Chiri- 
qui, in Panama, but it seems very probable that they were found during 
or near the dry season. 
In an article on the hibernation of the chinch bug, Mr. C. L. Marlatt* 
calls particular attention to the met that in Kansas the chinch bug in 
autumn seeks the dense stools of some of the wild grasses in which to 
hibernate, and to such an extent did this occur that it was suggested 
as probably the normal hibernating habit of the species. 
Before entering into a discussion of this matter, it will be well to 
preseut two communications received from the late Dr. J. 0. Neal, at that 
time of Stillwater, Okla. As he was located in a section of the country 
where, in many cases, civilization had not influenced to such a marked 
degree the natural insect fauna, I applied to him to secure some exact 
information in regard to the chinch bug under such conditions. Our 
correspondence, however, was terminated suddenly by his death. The 
two letters here given are among the last he ever penned. They are 
of a somewhat general nature, and I shall refer to them later in this 
discussion. 
Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, 
Stillwater, Okla., October 31, 1895. 
My Dear Sir: Yours of the 28tli just received. Last year was the first wheat 
year in most of the new additions to this Territory, and from all sections the cry was 
for infection, as "the hugs are ruining us." I received letters from every county in 
the strip and in the western sections. The most damage was done in the extreme 
southern range of the counties, and near Okarche (see map, fig. 6) the damage 
was excessive. I do not think there is a single acre in this, or Indian Territory that 
is not saturated, so to speak, with the chinch hug. You may put this whole area down 
as within the infested boundary line. My helief is that the increase of country roads, 
the decrease of March fires, the shiftless habits of the vast majority of our farmers 
in allowing volunteer wheat and oats to grow, and wheat lands to remain fallow, 
and the planting of new and better grass crops than the tough blue-stem, are direct 
causes of what I believe a decided increase of this insect in Oklahoma during the 
* Insect Life, Vol. VII, pp. 232-234, 1894. 
