THE CHINCH BUG. 
13 
note, the bugs did great damage to Timothy in northern New York iu 
1883, and the following extract from a letter recently received from 
Professor Atkinson, of North Carolina, indicates that in that State at 
least the Crab-grass becomes an important item of the insect’s diet. 
* * * I have recently discovered that at this season of the year (October 2) the 
chinch hug feeds on the “ crab-grass ” so common in cultivated and waste places, 
and especially so abundant in many of the corn-fields after cultivation has ceased. 
The chinclf bug must go to grass after the corn becomes mature and no longer yields 
the sap. I have found the bugs inside the sheath and clear evidence of their having 
punctured the culm. No doubt this grass affords them subsistence for quite a period 
of time and then shelter for the winter. * * * I have found within the past few 
days pupae or wingless individuals on the crab-grass. * * * 
Referring again to Timothy we may state that a meadow of this grass 
on the farm of J. F. Whiton, near Wakeman, Huron County, Ohio, was 
injured considerably by the bugs in 1886. Professor Forbes, however 
(Bull. 2), gives an instance where sowing Timothy with Fall Wheat 
was probabably the cause of the salvation of the crop. 
On cultivated Rice we found Chinch Bugs very generally scattered 
throughout the large rice-fields near Savannah, Ga., in August, 1881. 
Only adult specimens were found at that time and all were fully winged, 
and were found upon the heads of the grain, to which they had proba- 
bly flown, as the fields had been flooded for some time previously. No 
particular damage to the crop was perceptible, unless their punctures 
contribute to bring about the disease known as u white blast,” as sug- 
gested by Professor Riley in his Annual Report for 1881-’82, page 137. 
We shall probably be obliged to widen our close restriction of the 
Chinch Bug food plants, to admit at least one of the Polygonums. A 
chance statement by Mr. Bruner that he had known this insect to feed 
upon the so called u Wild Buckwheat ” in Nebraska led to a letter of 
close inquiry, to which he replied that there can be no mistake and that 
the plant is either Polygonum dumetorum , or P. convolvulus. 
STAGES OF GROWTH— DESCRIPTIVE. 
The following descriptive matter is from Professor Riley’s Seventh 
Report on the Insects of Missouri, and is fuller and more careful than 
that published elsewhere. It will be noticed that there are three larval 
stages, necessitating two molts before the pupa and three before the 
adult. It will also be noticed that the larvrn have but two joints to 
the feet, while the adults have three : 
The Egg. — (Fig. la, 6.) Average length 0.03 inch, elongate oval, the diameter 
scarcely one-fifth the length. The top squarely docked, and surmounted with four 
small rounded tubercles near the center. Color when newly laid, pale ami whitish 
and translucent, acquiring with age an amber color, and finally showing the red parts 
of the embryo, and especially the eyes toward the tubercled end. The size increases 
somewhat after deposition, and will sometimes reach near 0.04 iu length. 
Larval Stages. — The newly-hatched larva (Fig. lc) is pale yellow, with simply an 
orange stain on the middle of the three larger abdominal joints. The form scarcely 
