14 THE CHINCH BUG. 
in Illinois iii the autumn of L854, when in passing over the northern 
part of the State he found the ground in some places, in the midst 
of extensive prairies, covered and swarming with chinch bugs, 
reminding him, as he says, "of the appearance presented on parting 
the hair on a calf that ha- been poorly wintered, where the -kin is 
found literally alive with vermin."' Further along in his report 
i J.. 290) he -tate- that "so late a- the forepart of October I met 
several of these insects in the pupa state, and some of these I do not 
d(.ii!)t would pa— the winter in that state, and therefore would not 
deposit their eggs until the following spring." That he did not find 
these pupa' in New York i- shown by Ins statement on page - _ >s 7 of the 
same report, to the effect that lie had "met with hut three specimens 
in New York, occurring on willow- in the spring of 1847 and May 
L2, L851." A- shown farther on in this bulletin, there i- no proof 
that these pupa' did not develop to adult- before winter, or die before 
spring, and the conditions indicated would almost presuppose that 
hibernation would take pjace on the prairies where the insect- were 
observed by Doctor- Fitch and Neal. From personal recollection 
the writer know- that the section of Illinois to which Doctor Fitch 
refers was, at the time mentioned, hut thinly populated, and there 
were -till very extensive tracts of the original prairie grasses miles 
distant from woodland-. 
In an interesting note by Mr. F. A. Schwarz ° on the hibernation of 
the chinch bug, given in discussing Mr. Marian'- paper, previously 
mentioned, attention is called to the fact that the hibernation of the 
chinch bug had been observed by him, in its maritime home, in the 
vicinity of Fortress Monroe. Ya.. which locality he had been in the 
habit of vdsiting for a number of year-, during the first warm days 
of spring. The maritime flora and fauna are here late to awake, and 
ni(i-t insects peculiar to the seacoast can -till be found in their Winter 
quarters by the end of April. By pulling up any good-sized stool of 
Lira-- and beating it out on the smooth surface of the sand or over a 
cloth a multitude of various insects are -tire to be found, and among 
them always plenty of chinch bug.-. These stools of grass not only 
serve a- winter quarters, but in summer the chinch bug- crawl into 
them during the daytime to protect themselves from the fierce ray- of 
the -mi. 
In lie' timothy meadow- of northeastern Ohio the writer has wit- 
nessed eases where the chinch bin:- had commenced their operations 
along one side, worked part way across the field, killing the timothy 
a- they advanced, and continued their depredation- the following 
year precisely where they suspended work the autumn before, the 
long-winged individuals only migrating in the intervening time. 
',-■ 
[nsect Life, Vol. VII, pp. 120-422, L895. 
