I 
59 
ion, and, what is of far more importance to them, perfectly aware of 
he best means of supplying their natural wants. Without delay 
hey at once insert their tiny beaks into the wheat stem on which 
,hey find themselves placed, and commence pumping out the juices 
>n which the vigor and life of the plant depends. They are faithful 
vorkers, seldom allowing the little pumping machine to stop opera- 
ion. As a necessary consequence their growth is somewhat rapid, 
ind their jackets soon become too tight and they are compelled to 
strip them off or stop pumping ; preferring the former, they cast off 
,he~old garment to make way for the new one nature has provided ; 
>r, in other words, undergo a moult. The Chinch-bug passes 
;hrough four of these moults before reaching the perfect or winged 
state, varying in color and markings after each. “ It is bright red 
,vith a pale band across the middle of the body alter the first; some¬ 
what darker with the merest rudiments of wing-pads after the sec- 
>nd ; and quite brown with distinct wing-pads, but with the pale 
transverse band still visible after the third.”—Riley. 
The entire process requires from five to seven weeks. It is not long 
ifter they acquire wings—a few days only—before they pair and the 
'emales deposit their eggs. 
Migrations. 
Before the females of this brood deposit their eggs they leave their 
Driginal quarters and migrate in search of a more abundant supply 
af food. When this movement takes place it appears to be a very 
general one, and not, as sometimes supposed, solely for the purpose 
af enjoying the season of their amours or for depositing eggs, 
though these may be and doubtless are often in part the cause of this- 
movement. About this time the wheat becomes dry and hard, 
and no longer furnishes a supply of food; hence, they are necessarily 
forced to migrate or perish. Occasionally they take to flight, and 
this appears to be more common some years than others, depending 
to a great extent upon the state of the weather, and perhaps to a cer¬ 
tain degree upon being the time of their amours, as suggested by Dr. 
Shimer. But the far more usual and almost universal method is by 
marching along the surface of the ground. As will be seen by refer¬ 
ence to the foregoing extracts from replies to my circular, there ap¬ 
pears to be no uniformity in the direction taken ; in fact, they some¬ 
times scatter and go in different directions from the same field, but as 
a general thing the masses take one direction, which is towards the 
nearest field of corn, oats or some other cereal or grass that is still in 
a succulent state. In most of the State where corn is the chief or 
second crop it is generally attacked. As the number of stalks to a 
given area is much less than in the wheat field the forces are concen¬ 
trated, and each stalk of corn receives the bugs of perhaps a himdred 
wheat stalks. When the insects are very numerous the effect is soon 
visible. 
In these migrations the insects are by no means all matured, often 
th n majority have not advanced beyond the pupa state, but the want 
of nourishment forces them to “go west ’ or in some other direction in 
search of food. In all such movements mature and immature indi- 
