INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
As a necessary part of a systematic investigation of the chinch 
bug from the standpoint of the agriculture of the present day, it 
has been my duty to scan thoroughly its economic literature with 
reference to its origin, its native food plants and its relations to 
nature at large, its spread, its attack upon cultivated crops under 
varying conditions of latitude, climate, weather, agricultural situa¬ 
tion and practice, and the like, and especially its susceptibility to 
preventive and remedial measures. This task has been so laborious 
and so irksome that I would gladly save another the repetition of 
it; and the information obtained, although of very unequal value,, 
seems to me well worthy of re-publication, especially in the interest 
of those who, connected with agricultural experiment stations in 
the states subject to the ravages of this insect, will have in future 
to devise and test measures for meeting its attacks. 
In collecting notes from more or less fugitive agricultural 
literature, I have not thought it best to exercise a rigorous censor¬ 
ship with regard to the accuracy of the matter reported by ordi¬ 
nary observers, or even by entomologists, but have made this 
record, to some extent, a history of error as well as of discovery. 
On the other hand, I have not commonly thought it worth my 
while, or of any benefit to others, to renew the life of unmitigated 
blunders merely because they have happened at some time to find 
their way into print. 
Concerning the reports of the occurrence or absence of the chinch 
bug, and the amount of its injuries from year to year in different 
parts of its area, I have thought it best to give all the informa¬ 
tion in my possession, since this is an important part of the 
material necessary to any thorough study of the relations of this 
insect to weather, crops, and agricultural management. While, of 
course, I have not exhausted the sources of information on this 
topic, I have secured everything bearing on it which I could get 
access to, and have collected, I think, approximately all of any 
interest concerning, the career of this insect in Illinois. 
For the clerical work of this appendix I am indebted to my 
amanuensis, Miss Mary J. Snyder, and to two of my assistants^ 
Messrs. C. M. Weed and John Marten. 
» 
S. A. FORBES. 
