6 
THE CHINCH BUG. 
boundary line, in Canada. It was first noticed, so far as we can find, 
in North Carolina, at the close of the Revolutionary war, where, as has 
been so often stated, it was mistaken for the Hessian fly, which at that 
time was attracting considerable notice on Long Island and there- 
abouts. 
Dr. Fitch, in his second report, gives with some little detail an account 
of its early appearances, from which we may simply state that after 
this first notice the insect did considerable damage for several years in 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. After a short series of 
seasons it was again destructive in North Carolina in 1809, so that in 
Orange County the cultivation of wheat was abandoned for two years. 
In 1839, in the same States, great damage was done to corn and 
wheat, and in 1840 an increase in number occurred, and the wholesale 
destruction of the crops was only prevented by an exceedingly wet 
season. 
The first scientific description of this species was given by Say in 
1831, in a pamphlet, now very scarce, published at New Harmony, Ind., 
entitled “Descriptions of new species of Heteropterous Hemiptera,” 
from a single specimen collected on the eastern shore of Virginia, and 
it was probably at that time rare in Indiana, where Say resided, at New 
Harmony. 
It attracted much attention in 1840 in Illinois when it occurred in 
numbers in Hancock County, where it was supposed to have been in- 
troduced by the Mormons, and was called in consequence the u Mormon 
louse.” 
According to Professor Riley, the first recorded appearance of the 
insect in Missouri was in 1839. It was again noticed in 1844, and has 
been destructive at intervals ever since. In Iowa its first recorded ap- 
pearance is in 1847, in Indiana in 1854, and in Wisconsin in 1855. 
Eighteen hundred and sixty-four was a year marked by damage in 
these Western States. In 1868, a season of great drought, much damage 
was done by the bugs in Missouri. 
In 1871 great damage was done in Illinois, southern Iowa, in parts 
of Indiana, in Nebraska, in southern Missouri, and Kansas. It was 
estimated by Dr. LeBaron in his second Illinois report that the loss 
to the wheat, oat, and barley crops during this year amounted to 
$10,500,000 in Illinois alone, and in the other six States mentioned, in- 
cluding Indiana, the total loss was upwards of $30,000,000. 
In 1874 they occurred again in Missouri and the adjoining States in 
exceptional abundance. It was during this season that Professor Riley 
sent out circulars to all parts of Missouri and at the close of which he 
wrote the extended article which was published in his Seventh Report 
on the Insects of Missouri. 
He estimated that the total loss to the group of States of which 
eastern Kansas forms a center was double that of 1871. Very care- 
ful estimates by counties gave an aggregate loss of $19,000,000 for 
