142 
THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 
fields. In orange-groves heaps of cotton-seed as well as 
pieces of sugar-cane will be found useful; the insects will 
collect in these places and can be scalded to death. 
Family Lyg^EID^E (Ly-gae'i-dae). 
The Chinch-bug Family . 
This, too, is a large family, about one hundred and 
fifty species being known to occur in the 
United States. Here the membrane of the 
wing-covers is furnished with four or five simple 
veins, which arise from the base of the mem¬ 
brane ; sometimes the two inner veins are joined to a cell 
near the base (Fig. 173). 
This family contains the Chinch-bug, Blissus leiicopterus 
(Blis'sus leu-cop'te-rus), the most destructive member of the 
Heteroptera occurring in the United States. 
Although quite widely distributed, its injuries 
have attracted most attention in the Missis¬ 
sippi Valley, where it has destroyed many 
million dollars’ worth of grain. It is a small Fl{ ! ^Lsiusus 
bug, measuring less than one sixth of an inch ^opurus. 
in length. In Figure 174 it is represented slightly enlarged 
and greatly enlarged. It is blackish in color, with snowy- 
white wing-covers, each marked with a dark spot and 
Y-shaped line, as shown in the figure. The species is di¬ 
morphic, there being a short-winged form. 
There are two generations of the Chinch-bug each year; 
they winter as full-grown insects and hide under rubbish. 
In the early spring they come forth and lay their eggs in 
fields of grain upon the roots or stems beneath the ground. 
The eggs hatch in about two weeks. The nymphs are red, 
and feed at first upon roots; afterwards they attack the 
stalks of the plants they infest. In about fifty days they 
get their growth. About this time the whole brood starts 
out to find new pastures, and they all march on foot in one 
direction, like an army. Although they are tiny insects they 
