42 
Nauvoo, and were called “Mormon lice” because it was supposed the 
Mormons had introduced them. That they were so called is true, but 
the first record of their appearance that I can find is that given above. 
The article in which this fact is mentioned—written by Mr. J. 
Hadley—is interesting in this connection, and as it has been over¬ 
looked in all subsequent notices of this species, I will quote it here : 
“I find in the October number of the Farmer a notice of Chinch-bugs 
in Knox county, and a request that some friend there would send you 
a sample of them. As I have more of that kind of varmints on my • 
farm than I want, I have taken the liberty to send you a few of them 
for inspection, or dissection, as you please, and also to give you a short 
history of their depredations on my farm and the northern part of 
this county. The} 7 first were found here about the middle of June, 
and could be found in any wheat field by just removing a little earth 
from the roots of the wheat, where they commenced their depreda¬ 
tions. When they first made their appearance they were about one- 
third as large as those I send you. Some of them were red, with 
brown spots, and some of a dark brown color. In about two weeks 
they get their full growth (which is the size of those I send you) and 
all assume one color, which is a dark brown. They deposit their eggs 
in the ground, from half an inch to an inch deep, and in about six 
days these little red and brown fellows are hatched out; they have 
silver colored wings with a dark brown spot on them. They make 
very little use of their wings, as their principal mode of moving is 
on and in the ground. I think there must have been five or six gene¬ 
rations of them on my farm this fall. I had to give up harvesting 
my corn in consequence of their being so numerous and of an offen¬ 
sive smell ; they smell very much like the common bed bug. I think 
there were a million of them on some corn stalks in my field, being 
literally covered from the ground to the top. I have been informed 
that the same kind of bugs were in this county about five years ago 
and did considerable damage to wheat and corn. They have done 
much mischief here this summer in some wheat fields. They have 
nearly destroyed two or three acres of my fall wheat, and are yet 
going on in their work of destruction. They work entirely on the 
root of it now, but in the summer and early fall they devoured (?) 
roots, stalks and leaves, in fact everything that was green.” Novem¬ 
ber, 1845. . : 
Accompanying this letter to the Prairie Farmer were specimens ol 
the insects complained of, a cut of which is published with the letter. 
Although this figure is not quite up to the requirements of the present 
day, it is a tolerably good likeness of the species, and as the editors say 
“is the first portrait of him ever given to the world.” 
As will be seen by the following extract from the June number, 
1846, of the same paper, these insects were abundant in some sections 
of the State that year, also in 1844. 
“The Chinch Bug— Mr. David Newsome writes us of the devastation 
committed by this insect in Sangamon county. He says: ‘During 
last September a year, I observed millions of whitish flying insects 
upon the vegetation where I was seeding wheat. After seeding time 
was over I saw no more of them. About the 15th of next June myr¬ 
iads of small streaked-backed bugs made their appearance upon the 
