(a). With complete metamorphosis.

(b). With incomplete metamorphosis.

In the first-class come the dragon-flies, beetles, flies, wasps, and butterflies, and their kindred; these have the pupa quiet. In the second class come spring-tails, locusts, and the true bugssuch as squash-bug, the plant-louse, etc.-together with their related forms.

The metamorphoses of insects furnish a most important line of study, and one which is of the greatest economic importance. It is readily seen that without knowledge of the different stages of a hurtful insect we might miss the connection of two forms of the same creaturethe one injurious and the other not immediately so. Almost everyone knows that the white butterfly which flits about the cabbage-bed is direcily responsible for the green worm which reduces the crop, but in other cases there is chance for error. It is needful to know every disguise of a noxious insect, that we may combat it all along the line and thus hold it in check as far as may be possible. Of the gray "millers" which fly about at night, some are responsible for canker-worms, some for the apple codling-moth, some for the tent-caterpillar. It is well to be able to recognize these enemies. Though they have forgotten their old haunts for the time being, it is safe to presume that the female will pick up the raveled threads of memory before egg-laying time comes around again, Knowledge of all stages of an insect is thus seen to be indispensable to the intelligent combating of the injurious stage.

Orders of INSECTS.

For convenience of reference and grouping of knowledge, insects are classified into eight orders. Short descriptions of the main features in each are appended:

(a). Under insects with incomplete metamorphosis come:

1. SPRING-TAILS, ETC., or Thysanura.

Without wings in all stages of their life; insignificant insects, and not of economic importance.

2. LOCUSTS, KATYDIDS, ETC., Orthoptera.

Long leathery upper wings, and biting mouth.

3. SQUASH-BUGS, PLANT-LICE, ETC., or Hemiptera.

Upper wings leathery at base, but gauzy at tips: sucking mouth.

(Plant-lice and cicadas have wings gauzy throughout.)

(b). Under insects with complete metamorphosis we have:

4.

DRAGON-FLIES, MAY-FLIES, ANT-LIONS, ETC., or Neuroptera.

All four wings gauzy; mouth for biting.

5. Beetles, or Coleoptera.

Upper wings horny, used for protection; mouth sometimes for biting, sometimes for sucking.

6. FLIES, or Diptera.

Appearing to possess but a single pair of wings, the hind pair being abortive; mouth for sucking.

7. BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS, or Lepidoptera.

Wings covered with powdery scales; mouths for sucking.

8. WASPS, BEES, ANTS, ETC., or Hymenoptera,

Wings gauzy; mouth adapted for both biting and sucking.

The characters given in each case refer to the perfect insects, and not to the pupæ or larvæ. Of these orders the last is the most highly developed, and in it come the greater part of our beneficial insects, The bee is a well-known example: beside it are others, humbler, but helpful in restraining noxious insects. There are also in this order the injurious saw-flies and gallflies.

THE SCIENTIFIC NAME.

Insects have each a so-called "scientific name," which is important, for it is the same in all parts of the world. A Chinese entomologist would not know what the cabbage worm was, but if it was called Pieris rapæ he might recognize it. The universality of the scientific name makes it a desirable one to know, although in most cases the English name is much better for ordinary purposes.

A "scientific name" consists of two parts. The first is called the generic name, and the second the specific name. As we sometimes write "Johnson, Henry," "Johnson, Peter," or "Johnson, James," so we write Pieris rapæ for one kind of cabbage worm, Pieris protodice for another, and Pieris napi for a third. Insects are grouped into a large number of genera, each comprising one or more species. Genera are grouped into families, and families into orders. By giving the name of a genus and after it that of the species, any given form is at once localized in the general scheme.

Note-This report is addressed primarily to the agriculturists and horticulturists of Nebraska. Since it is the first publication of the kind which has appeared in this state, it must of necessity touch upon only the commonest insects-those which are well-known and of universal prevalence. Such work is, however, always scientific, if undertaken in the right spirit; for it serves as an introduction to other work, and calls attention to the great unexplored territory of economic entomology surrounding its own little clearing, and awaiting the efforts of future investigators. If the following pages serve to impress the farmers and fruit-growers of Nebraska with the extent and importance of the work they may do for their own sakes and the sake of science, their object will have been accomplished. Practical results in economic entomology can be obtained only through the co-operation of practical

men.

I wish to thank my correspondents over the state, who have favored me, during the few months in which I was gathering material for this bulletin, with accounts of their own observations and experience. Without such helpful workers little could have been done. In addition to this assistance I have received from Prof. Chas. E. Bessey and Prof Lewis E. Hicks, of the University, indispensable aid and encouragement, which I take pleasure in acknowledging.

Cuts have been received from Prof. Herbert Osborn, of the Iowa Agricultural College, from L. O. Howard, of the Agricultural Department, Washington, and from Prof. A. J.Cook, of Michigan Agricultural College, and these have been inserted in the report.

NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION,

In number of species and individuals, insects are easily the first of land animals. There are estimated to be in the neighborhood of 600,000 species, by far the greater proportion of which feed upon vegetation. On an average each plant species harbors six different kinds. Some are confined to one variety of plant, while others are of the most catholic tastes, feeding upon everything green.

Insects are distributed over the whole earth, no region being without them, and different climates, of course, present different species. Wherever they live, they must have food, and the temporary absence of it in their accustomed haunts may lead them to migrate in vast numbers-a thing which has taken place to the sorrow of western agriculturists in the case of locusts or grasshoppers, the natural home of which is in the Black Hills and in Montana.

In their relation to man, insects are of far greater economic importance than any other living forms, excepting only domestic animals. Loss through their ravages is enormous, but as intelli gence is disseminated regarding habits, remedies, etc., it is hoped that a measure of restraint may be attained by the agriculturists who are so sore beset, and whose crops are ruined.

THE CHINCH BUG-Blissus (Micropus) leucopterus SAY.

SUB-ORDER, HETEROPTERA; FAMILY LYGEIDE.

Riley, Mo., Reports, 2d, 7th, and 8th; LeBarron, Ill. Rep. 2d; Thomas, Bulletin No. 5, U. S Entomological Commission; Walsh & Riley in Am. Entomologist; Harris Ins. Inj. to Veg.; Io. Hort. Soc., Transactions, 1871, 1877, and 1879.

The egg is oval in shape, 0.03 to 0.04 inch in length, top squarish, with four small, central, rounded tubercles; in color, at first whitish, but afterwards growing yellow to amber or even orange red. At first the newly hatched larva is straw-colored, with a darker yellowish-orange patch on the top of the abdomen. After the first moult this red patch becomes larger and brighter.

The pupa is active, dusky-colored, with the short (immature) upper wings, or hemielytra beginning to show the white color of the perfect insect. The body-parts and legs are dusted over with a grayish powder.

The imago is black or nearly so, with hemielytra white and a black spot upon each. It is three-twentieths of an inch in length, According to Prof. Riley, there is a western variety, melanosus with dusky wing covers. This is common in Nebraska, appearing side by side with the normal form. There are also other varieties, but the wing-covers will serve to distin guish the species, whenever there is any doubt.

HISTORY,

Chinch-bugs were first known in this country in North Carolina, during old Revolutionary times. Say, in 1831, described them from Virginia, and at that time they were probably un.. known as far west as Indiana. Since the progress of civilization westward, the chinch-bug has closely followed, preferring southern climates to northern, and abandoning New England, where it once occurred in small numbers, for the great valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri. In Dr. Fitch's second report it is mentioned as very numerous in Virginia and North Carolina in 1856, and the cultivation of wheat has had to be practically suspended in the latter state for a term of years.

The central states are now the great home of this insect. In Dr. Thomas' report there is a map showing that the ravages of the chinch-bug extend over all of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, a great part of Iowa and Wisconsin; and small south-easterly corners of Minnesota and Nebraska. This report was published in 1879, and since then the pest has been gradually widening its range. Five years ago it did serious damage to the crops of Lancaster county, in this state; two years ago it was known in the vicinity of Seward, and this year it is reported to me from all but the extreme north-western counties. Perhaps its greatest damage has been done in the south-eastern counties, and in those bordering upon the Platte. Dispatches to the

Chicago papers from Hastings, in Adams county, mention that the damage to wheat, oats, and corn has been very considerable.

From these considerations, it appears that the farmers of Nebraska have not yet heard the worst of the chinch-bug. Two things in particular contribute towards its alarming increase: 1st. The extension of agriculture in the state: where there is food for it, and proper climate, there the bug will go.

2d. The decrease in number and extent of prairie fires. As will be shown below, these had much to do with keeping the insect in check.

THE INJURY DONE.

As is well known, the chinch-bug attacks oats, spring wheat, rye, barley, and corn. It has even been known to feed upon millet. It is voracious, eating throughout its entire life. Dr. Thomas suspects that its habits have been changed since its introduction into the Northwest, and that instead of being most injurious to wheat, it is now most injurious to corn. This is no more than might have been expected under the present agricultural conditions.

According to estimates by Prof. Riley, the loss in 1874, in Missouri, was about 19,000,000 dollars; in Illinois, the same year, the losses were 30,000,000 dollars, or $11.50 to each inhabitant. This latter statement is from Thomas' report. The same year, 1874, the loss in Nebraska was not far from $750,000, and this year it is thought to be in the neighborhood of $4,000,000-an alarming increase, but not altogether due to increase in numbers on the part of the insect. The injury is divided about equally between the corn crop on the one hand, and the wheat and oats crop on the other. In the vicinity of Lincoln, wheat and oats were more severely injured than corn, for opportune rains saved much of the latter. Crop reports in the Rural New Yorker admit the prevalence of the insect, but do not give it credit for much damage except to wheat and barley. From correspondents I learn that corn throughout the South Platte country has suffered.

HABITS.

There are but two broods of the chinch-bug during the year, although many suppose that there are three. This mistake is due to the fact that great numbers of the last brood hibernate and appear again in the spring, thus becoming the "first" brood of the succeeding year. Hibernation is instinctive with the last brood in the fall. As cold weather comes on, the insects seek hiding places, sometimes by crawling, sometimes by flight, secreting themselves in shocks of corn, piles of straw or hay, hedge-rows, fences, under barns and cattle-sheds, and even under the clods. According to Dr. Thomas, more females survive than males, and in the spring-from the first of April to the middle of May, in this latitude-they pair, and egg-laying begins at once. Dr. Shimer has observed that the process is a leisurely one, twenty days often being consumed in the deposition of the normal 500 eggs.

It is important to notice the instinct which guides the female in this process. She cannot dig and still must place her eggs near the kernels sown in the soil. There are usually crevices through which she can crawl, and by this means she reaches the grain and places her eggs where there will be nutriment for the future young. Were there no lumps it would be impossible for the bug to reach the kernels.

After hatching, the tiny larva inserts its beak into the young stalk of grain and begins to suck out its juices. Soon the stalks grow yellow, and the leaves shrivel.

In from five to seven weeks the bugs become full grown, and pairing takes place again. By this time the wheat, oats, barley, rye, or whatever small grain they have fed upon, has been pretty well used up, and the mature bugs are compelled to look elsewhere for nutriment. Corn helds seem to suit their taste, and they migrate in vast numbers to the larger grain. This migration is usually upon foot, but not infrequently wings are called into use. Shortly, the corn is covered with them, and hundreds appear upon each stalk.

When safely in the corn fields, eggs are laid, according to Mr. N. E. Allen, in the Prairie Farmer, at the points of juncture between leaf and stalk. This is often the case, but not universally, as even this brood may lay its eggs near the roots, and I have found them attached along the under sides of the leaves, in the grooves made by the ribs and veins. From this generation of eggs comes the fall brood, the one which hibernates in straw, under clods, etc.

NATURAL ENEMIES.

The first great natural enemy of the chinch-bug is a good, soaking rain-storm. Being uncleanly insects, the chinch-bugs cannot stand water; in consequence, when wet down by thorough rains they die in countless numbers. Such defense as rain cannot always be counted on at critical moments.

Second. There is an epidemic disease, of fungoid nature, which carries off the bugs in great numbers when it chances to prevail among them. This disease was discovered by Dr. Shimer. It occurred in 1865, and was so fatal that difficulty was experienced in finding cabinet specimens after its ravages. The spread of this disease, naturally or artificially induced, would be of no small benefit to the agriculturist.

Third. There are several insect enemies which prey upon the chinch-bug and do much to keep it in check. These are two species of lady-birds--the common spotted one, and the plain red or "Trim Lady-Bird," Hippodami maculata and Coccinella munda respectively; two species of bugs, the insidious flower-bug (Anthocoris insidiosus), sometimes called the false chinch-bug, but readily distinguished by being much broader, and the many-banded robber (Harpactor cinctus); and there is also a lace-wing fly (Chrysopa plorabunda), the larva of which devours the chinch-bugs voraciously. All these insects should be encouraged.

Fourth. Many birds will eat the bugs, but the best of them is the common quail (or more properly, partridge), which is hard pressed for food in the winter, and devotes much of its time to turning up straw and stubble in search of the hibernating insects. Mr. David Abbott, in the Io. Hort. Rep., 1871, is reported to have found five hundred bugs in the crop of a quail, which the bird had eaten for its morning meal. The quail should be protected by law and allowed to multiply indefinitely, in view of such good habits.

Of other birds, the red-winged blackbird, orioles, sparrows, and thrushes are known to eat the bugs, but they do this sparingly, and are by no means so efficient as the quail.

To the careless observer it may seem a small matter whether quails, robins, etc., are protected or not, but the affairs of nature are so nicely balanced that a trifling decrease in one species of animal may allow another to increase with almost incredible rapidity. By exterminating the birds great damage is done to agriculture, and, whether he knows it or not, the boy who goes out with a sling-shot and knocks over a robin or a cat-bird may do more harm than all his corn-cultivating for the rest of the year can balance. This may sound extravagant, but it is strictly true; and vandalism, like virtue, is very sure to bring its own reward. Agriculturists will in time wake up to this fact.

ARTIFICIAL REMEDIES.

Several remedies have been proposed, but it may as well be acknowledged that none of them are as satisfactory as could be wished. In his second Ill. Report, Dr. LeBaron proposes the four following remedies: (They are carefully discussed in the Bulletin of Dr. Thomas.)

(1) Anticipate the ravages by sowing grain very early and getting ahead of the new insects. (2) Prevent migration of bugs from one field to another.

(3) Burn rubbish in the fall.

(4) Abstain for awhile from cultivating the grain upon which they feed, and so prevent their breeding.

There have also been suggested by Prof. Riley the following remedies:

(5) Irrigation so copious that the bugs will be drowned.

(6) Rolling the land after spring sowing, to keep the females from laying eggs upon the kernels.

Other remedies have been recommended.

The appliance of salt, gypsum, lime, tarred saw-dust.

(8) The surrounding of wheat-fields by a strip of millet or Hungarian grass, to retain the bugs until they can be burned, thus saving the wheat.

(9) In the Prarie Farmer Mr. N. E. Allen recommends the sowing of clover with the spring wheat, which matures early and forms a covering for the ground, shading it, keeping it moist, and thus preventing the growth of the bug.

Each of these remedies has been tried, and probably each has its advantages. To consider them more in detail will be instructive.

(1) To anticipate the ravages by early sowing. Upon this there cannot be placed much reliance. In even the most favorable seasons the bugs have appeared and done immense damage. The fact is that the chinch-bug is governed by climatic changes as much as the wheat. In a year when wheat or oats are late the bugs will also be late, and vice versa. In this connection Dr. Le Baron thinks the salt or gypsum remedies should be tried, not because they have a poisonous effect upon the insects, but because they stimulate the growth of the grain and bring it earlier to maturity. Here, too, the clover-seeding remedy of Mr. Allen may be tried with possibly good effects.

(-) Preventing migration. About the time the wheat crop has been finished, the first brood of bugs is ready to migrate into the cornfields near at hand. As has been stated, this migration usually takes place on foot, except where the wheat has held out so long that the bugs have acquired their wings, and in view of this, various traps may be laid for the wanderers. A halfdozen furrows plowed around the infested field are very effective, especially if no gentle rains come up to consolidate the dust into a firm foot-hold. This is simple and easy. Another plan is to dig a ditch, making the side perpendicular towards the fields which are to be protected. The bugs cannot climb a vertical surface, especially if it is loose and dusty. This condition can be produced by scratching the trench with boughs. When a number of insects have collected in the ditch a log may be dragged through it with fatal results to the bugs.

Another method is to make a barrier around the cornfields, of fence boards set on edge, and the top besmeared with tar. Chinch-bugs will not cross such a line, however much they may wish to. The tar must be renewed often enough to keep it soft and sticky. The boards may be dispensed with and a stream of tar poured directly upon the ground from an old watering pot or kettle. This is not as effective, for the tar dries up more quickly.

As Dr. LeBaron admits, "The great deficiency of all such methods is that, at best, they only protect that crop which is usually the least damaged by them."

(3) Destroying the rubbish. This plan is a very good one, as far as it goes. A clean field is much less likely to be attacked than a dirty one. All stubble, brush, refuse hay, etc., should be burned some time in the late autumn. By this means many of the hibernating bugs will be killed, and fewer eggs the following spring will be the result. However, it is impossible to reach all the places where the insects hibernate, and many of them will be sure to escape and will be on hand in the spring, ready for mischief. Besides, corn-stalks are used for winter fodder, and since their burning would be no absolute immunity from the bugs, it is a plan of questional le expediency.

(4) Taking the view of the case that "it is useless to attempt to raise spring wheat or barley where chinch-bugs have been present in any considerable numbers the preceding year, unless we have reason to believe that they have been killed off by heavy rains," Dr. LeBaron proposes that the farmers of an infested locality should take concerted action and grow only such crops as enjoy immunity from the pest. This remedy seems chimerical, and though it might be adopted as a last resort, will scarcely be of much practical value.

(5) Copious irrigation. Prof. Riley has great faith in this remedy. If an infested field be put under water for a day or two the bugs will be killed. There are many places where this can be done, but upon the rolling prairie of eastern Nebraska it is entirely impracticable and may be dismissed. But wherever the remedy can be used it will prove most efficient, and care should be taken not to apply the water too early, for in that case many of the bugs would escape.

(5) Rolling the land after seeding. In this remedy, Mr. Allen, in the Prairie Farmer, expresses great confidence, and it is probably one of the best at our disposal. Immediately after the grain is in the ground a heavy roller should be passed over it, or it should be planked or poled. This breaks up the clods, fills the chinks and crannies of the soil, and opposes an effectual bar

rier to the female bug when she desires to crawl down to the kernel and lay her eggs upon it. She cannot dig like a beetle, and if hatched upon the top of the ground the young will perish for lack of proper food.

Therefore have the land smooth. The aphorism for bug-afflicted farmers seems to be, "no lumps and no bugs."

A combination of remedies (1), (7), and (9) has been recommended. By itself, the application of remedy (7) in any of its forms will be of small avail. The chinch-bug cannot be frightened by lime or salt, besides the trouble and expense is something enormous. By itself, then, remedy 7 is not recommended.

(8) Barriers of millet, Hungarian grass, etc., to be burned away when full of the pests. This is of questionable utility, for the movements of the insects are rapid and they appear in such quantities that one burning will not dispose of them.

(9) This remedy is good in combination with (1) and (7).

To head off chinch-bugs, then, we must have clean farming, early sowing, and good deal of vigilance; the land should be rolled, flooded if possible, and finally-a modification of remedy 4-the "rotation of crops" should be observed. Beside being of value to the soil, an intelligent variation in planting will confuse and hamper insects. If a farmer sows one piece of land to spring wheat for year after year he may expect a multiplication of insect pests. It is as certain to come as a multiplication of lice in an old hen house. It will, perhaps, be difficult to bring about this state of things in the West, where the fertility of the soil makes its owners so reckless that they almost let it farm itself; but, sooner or later it will be well-nigh compulsory.

Mr. Lawrence Bruner thinks the following counties were particularly troubled by the bugs: Gage, Hall, Hamilton, Butler, Clay, Lancaster, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Seward, Saunders, Saline, Adams, Red Willow, Howard, and Platte.

THE HESSIAN FLY-(Cecidomyia destructor SAY).

ORDER DIPTERA; FAMILY CECIDOMYIDAE

Harris Insects Inj. to Veg.; Packard's Guide to Study of Ins.; Am. Entomologist, vols, 1, 2, 3, Third Rep., U. S. Ent. Com., and Bulletin No. 4-The Hessian Fly, by A. S. Packard, Jr.