August, ’20] 
SPOONER: MILK CONTAMINATION 
369 
From the above citations it will be seen that the species has a very 
wide distribution and a remarkable diversity of larval habitat. The 
presence of this insect in milk suggests a possible method of its reaching 
the human intestine. Its occurrence in this country offers another 
reason, if such be needed, for safeguarding our milk supply. 
Bibliography 
1910 Heuser: Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. and Hyg., Lon. iii, 230. 
1912 Brunetti: Rec. Ind. Mus., 7, pt. 1, 83. 
1913 Malloch: Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 43, 467. 
1915a Brues: Rept. of 1st Exp. to S. Amer. 1913, Cambridge, pp. 161-174. 
1915b Brues: Same, Appendix ii. 
1918 Riley: 17th Rept. State Ent. of Minn., pp. 41-45. 
THE OCCURRENCE OF THE CHINCH-BUG (BLISSUS 
LEUCOPTEROUS) IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 
By Geo. W. Barber, U. S. Bureau of Entomology 
The Chinch-bug is so little thought of as a serious pest in New Eng¬ 
land that an account of its destructive occurrence in that section may 
not be without interest. 
On August 12, 1919, the writer’s attention was first directed to the 
occurrence of this insect in Massachusetts. A visit was made to the 
Frick estate in Beverly, where the insect had first been discovered. 
The Frick estate adjoins the sea and contains small natural wooded 
areas, dense groupings of shrubs and flowers, and lawns extending over 
a considerable area. It was found that the beautiful lawn of the estate 
had been entirely destroyed over an extent of several acres by the insect 
which was then present in great numbers as adults and nymphs of all 
stages. The lawn had been composed principally of blue grass, and 
this appeared to be the principal food of the insect, clover, weeds, and 
the coarser grasses being for the greater part untouched and the only 
green vegetation remaining. 
Adults were already seeking winter quarters and were found in the 
collected leaves protecting the roots of shrubbery, and in the leaf mold 
in the wooded areas. The insect was generally very numerous through¬ 
out the estate even on buildings and fences, in some corners of the 
latter being upwards of an inch deep. A few were found in adjoining 
estates but the infestation seemed to be almost wholly confined to the 
Frick estate. A less serious infestation was found on the Tucker estate 
in Manchester, some two miles distant. Here the insect had destroyed 
small areas of the lawn which appeared as brown spots a few feet in 
diameter. The insect was not found between these two estates. 
It has been suggested that sheep manure procured from an unknown 
