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Mepe. pletee. cherta. etc.. mey be filmed et different reduction ratioa. Thoae too lerge to be antlraiy Included In one expoeure ara filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to rigiit and top to bottom, aa many framae aa required. The following diagrama illuatrate the method: Lae cartae. plancliae. tableaux, etc., pauvent fttra film4a k dee taux da rMuction diff Aranta. Loraqua la document eat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un aeui clieli4. II eat film* A partir da I'angia aupMaur gauche, do gauciie i droite. et do heut en baa. an prenent le nombre d'lmagaa ndeaaaaira. I.ea diagrammea auivanta illuatrant la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ««'<»ocorv mouiTiON tbt cnait (ANSI and ISO TIST GHAUT No. 2) A 165J Eoit Ucin Slrtal !•«"••'•'. Nmr York 14809 USA (718) M2 - 0300 - fW,, "" (716) 2M - M89 - To, 022G0S DOMINION OF CANADA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXPERIMENTAL FARMS DIVISION OF KNTOMOI.OOY THE CHINCH BUG IN ONTARIO BY H. F. HUDSON, Field Officer. ENTOMOLOGICAL CIBCVLAB No. 3. Publiahad by authority of Hon. MARTIN BURRELL, Miniitorof Agrieulturo, Ottawa, Ont. OTTAWA GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU 1914 56147—1 DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. Director, J. H. Omsdale, B.Agr. DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. OomMoM Jfnlomolopai— C. OowwJi lUwrrr, D. Ba. OkUf AMUtant Bntemologiit—Mamij* OawM. ilMtotMt BntomotogUt for Pornt IntwU—1. M. SWAim, ItBc., aS.A. Auittant Entomolooiit /or ^p<«««Mr«— F. W. I* Blamn. fMM OJfc»r. o«4 /•Mp.oJor.-A. B. Baied. O. B«auu.u. B.A.. LUR. H. P. HUDK.K, B.8.A.. L. a MOLAIMI, M.8C., J. PMUIIH, C. E. PwrcH, B.8.A., W. A. ROM, R8.A.. O B., BANMM. a8.A.. E. H. BTMCKLAND, J. D. TOTHILL, RB-A.. R C. TMHWOTI. RB.A. ^rt<«t A««» w.lltht) """tj^"* ■pedmana. may bo maUed "Fr*«" K addreMod to the Dominion EntomologUt, Central Expert- mental Farm. Otuwa. in all ca«e where It 1. po«ilble. living .peclmena of the Ineect. .hould be «nt Incloeed In a rtron. wooden or tin box to prevent damage In tran.lt Living ln.ecU .hou d be «ippll«i with a Uberal quanUty of their food plant, and In all caM. they rtiould be carefully packed. The name and addren of the wnder ehould be written on the outrtde of the package, and a letter giving a. full detail, a. poaiible rtould In all caM. accompany InMcU Mnt in for report The Honourable The Minister of Agriculture, Ottawa. Sib,— I have the honour to transmit herewith, for your approval. Entomological Circular No. 3, entitled " The Chinch Bug in Ontario," by Mr. H. F. Hudson, Field Officer of the Division of Entomology. The destruction of crops in the United States caused by the Chinch Bug is extremely heavy and, with n view to the timely collection of data regarding the life- history, habits and control of this insect in Canada, Mr. Hudson was instructed to moke a special study of an outbreak occurring in western Ontario. The result* of his observations are embodied in this circular. While it is quite possible that the Chinch Bug may never constitute the serious menace to our crops which it does to those of the United States, it is most important that methods of prevention and control be known, and, to this end, the accompanying publication should prove of great value. I have the honour to be, sir. Your obedient servant, J. H. QRISDALE, Director, Dominion ExptrimenM Farmt. Ottawa, Februo' 56147—11 THE CHINCH BUG IN ONTARIO. In 1911 » ieriou» outbreak of the Chiii'h Bug (Hliitus It-.eopterua 8«y) wm reported to the I)ivi»ion of Entoinoloory atnl, in view <,f tho onormou* \(m»e* wJiich the pr«tence of this in««t in the Initwi State* hnd iiivolvi".!. nrranirptncnti were ma'hi for an invettigation of the oiitbrenk and the life l.i.iory ot the inawt \iml(»r TanadiMi condition! with a view to amcrtninintf whether i . pf ••?•"''■ >>' *he dintrict constituted a cauae for nppreheniiion, and what mcosiini* eould !•.! taken to bring about ita control. In a recent circular i«8iied by the Bureau of K.ntomo;.*>' of the I'nited State* Depart- ment of Agriculture it in stnted that " few in»ci'tH have caumnl such enormoua pecuniary loiwca an ha» tli.- Chinaine iimy be neeossary and possible. r. GORDON HEWITT, Dominio!' Entomoliiijist. THE CHINCH BUG IN ONTARIO. >r H. F. Hi'woN. B.8.A.. FkU Olfifr. lUHTORY AND D18TU1BUT10N. The Chinch Bug (W/m.u, /.ucopf.ru* Su.v ) w«. fir.t u<^ ^.^^^^^f^ in 1783 In the Mi.iU.ippi v.llc> it has been knoT - .ince 1H2.5.* S nee 1840. It Mi tLn under con.t.nt oJrvntion in lUinoi. .nd c ■ .t.te.. ^'''^'^ !'\/»;«~utTt: wfounted to from ten to twenty million dolUr. in a ..n«le «•*«.« and. throughout lU whole range, to a hundr.^d million doUart or more in a tingle aeaion. Whirc^^capionnl r.port. ..f i-iur, by thi. in.cot have ^^.'^''''"ill'^\^^Z .ion of Entomolog>. Central Experimental Farm 0"»w«. «,r.ou. outb«.U a. I am aware, have not yet o^-^-urred within the Dom.n.on. In Septemter. 1^^ .pecimen. wore «mt to the Divi.ion of Entomology by Mr «• B«»*J«^»' dlTtToT^* Ont.. with the autement that all the late oat. in hi. «»'•»"«, had been deatroyed. Writing later, under date of October 6. Mr. Benedict .ay.: "With «'«««» /"JJ* Chinch Bu(N i may uy that the inaecU did evidently no damage except t^ late oat^ of which! owing to thVlate .ea.on. there wa. quite a large acreage. The damage wm «nTwl ove/the county of Welland." In the fall of 1911. .pec.me.m were rer^n^ed nrir e! Dunn! of Thomdale. Ont. who .t.ted that they had m r.ou.ly injured a timothy meadow, and in Augu.t. 1913. they wet9 .lightly injur.ou. t< an o«t crop on the flu of Mr. Leitch. three and a half mile, .outhea.t of Strathroy. Ont. Early u 1912 Mr. O. E. Sander.. Field Officer of the Diri.ion of Entomology. *"•«»»*» Tho™dal^ Ont.. to make a brief inreatigation of the aituation. At the time <> ,biy1*rt the bug. were .till in their winter quarter, hibernating under leave, in woe- ou. and underVubbi.h of all deacription.. A. the in.ect wa. prcaent over a con.ider-M« ,wn of land it wa. decided to make a fuUer inve.tigation and. accc.a..,.tly, the *■";•*" actively engaged in that_work in the infeated di .tnct d"""* . pinkish veins. After a few hours, two black dots appear on the wing-covers, the liead and thorax become darker in colour and finally black. The adult insect is elongate-oval with broadly rounded ends. It measures about three-twentieths of an inch in length, its width being one-quarter of the length. The head and thorax are black, the entire surface, except the wings, minutely hairy; the wing covers are white, with a triangular black Rcutellum between them in front, the whitish area giving it roughly the form of the letter X. The first winged specimens were obtained on August 11, giving a life-cycle of 64 day*. Both forms, short-winged and long-winged, are single-brooded and hibernate as adults. The long-winged form differs from the short-winged type, in that, when most of the former have nociuirod wings, flights of the adults occur, and these flights were first observed Septfiubcr r> and sucoctiling fine days. At the time of my Fl<;. ■-'. Shi.rt-wiiipid Koriii .>f adult Cliimli Hiik- (Original. Knlarpeil twenty tiineh). arrival at Thorndale, :May 2<;, tlu' Inius were then in coiln. but I was iuformcd by Mr. Ed. Dunn that he had seen them pairing several days lirovious to this. Several copulating pairs were taken and put on oat plants growing under glass chimneys, to ascertain the earliest date of oviposition, period of egg laying, and the number of eggs per female usually laid. The first eggs were deposited May 2S and the-e hatched .Tune IS. the average egg production per female being 95. The period of oviposition was eighteen to nineteen .!:iys, but it was noticed that under field conditions the period of oviposition for the wh. to brood covered a period of six weeks. The number of eggs per female is sompwhat fewer in number than arc usially produced. Females have been known to produce as many as five hundred eggs, but this must be considered somewhat unusual. Single pairs were put on oat plants which were examined every day for eggs ; as the eggs were deposited, they were removed. The^largest number of eggs produced per female from six pairs under observation was 117. HABITS. The female apparently required repeated fertilization. From individual pairs kept under observation, I have seen them copulating on four ditferent occasions, but no record was kept of the time the process occupied. The eggs are usually deposited on the leaf sheath or ligule. but sometimes under ground on tile finer roots. The freshly hatched larvie, for about the first week of their existence, feed on the tender roots 10 below the surface, and usually out of sight. The injury to the plant is caused by the larve sucking the sap from the finer tendrils of the roots. It has not been definitely ascertained how long they may feed below the surface, but they may feed in this manner for at least a month, for I have several times taken specimens very delicate in body and colour, with the wing pads partly developed, and on exposure to light they would turn nearly black almost immediately. This, however, must be regarded as exceptional. Should the day be cold and windy the bugs are very sluggish and usually concentrated around the base of the plants ; but as soon as the sun shinetf out the bugs will be seen climbing up and down the stalks and moving in all directions through the field. They seek the higher and drier portions of a field, for a wet loca- tion is detrimental to Chinch Bug progress. Hence it is that the poorer condition a field is in, the more liable it is to serious injury, as where plant growth is rank, or the crop in good heart, forming a dense shade, little injury will usually result. FOOD PLANTS. The principal plants which have suffered are the meadow grasses and particularly is this true of timothy. Wheat, com and oats have been but very slightly injured, and in no case except where such a field was adjacent to a meadow or pasture. This does not mean that they prefer the meadow grasses to other crops, but that grain crops have been scarce and the succulent nature of the grasses all through the summer had not caused them to migrate to any extent in search of food. Had the season been a dry one, considerably more injury would have been done to the oat and com crop. So insidious is their work in a field of timothy that the plants may be killed outright without the owner knowing the reason. On com, the bugs may so cluster around the base of the com stalks as to prevent the development of the brace roots, which keep the plant upright, and thus in the latter part of the summer many stalks may be levelled to the ground by high winds, and fail to properly mature their ears. Such an instance occurred last year on the farm of Mr. Chas. Hudson, one mile south of Devizes. Adjoining his com field, of some four acres, was an old timothy meadow. The timothy had been killed outright and, in the latter part of September, the field com next the infested meadow having failed to develop brace roots, a wind storm levelled the plants to the ground. As mentioned before, all kinds of grasses are subject to injury, and the common grains are also likely to be destroyed, but clover, alfalfa, peas, potatoes, garden vegetables and fruiting plants of all kinds are prac- tically immune. AREA OF INFESTATION. The infested area covers about five square miles in Middlesex county, embracing altogether some 1,800 acres of hay and pasture land, the greatest injuiy occurring in the centre of this area. It includes St. Ives, Devizes and Bryanston. The insect has also been reported in the vicinity of Guelph, by Mr. L. Caesar, and also in Nova Scotia by Mr. G. E. Sanders; but in these localities no serious injury was recorded. It was on what may be termed grass farnts, where the greater portion of the land is always in sod, that the most injury was observed; on the other hand, where a regular system of rotation has been followed and land ploughed every three or four years. Chinch Bugs were very scarce, except in such woodland pasture which was deemed inadvisable to cultivate. Under the present system of farming, where pasture ia allowed to lie for a number of years, Chinch Bug injury is likely to be on the increase, unless we should be favoured with open winters or wet summers, as heavy rains at hatching time are disastrous to Chinch Bug increase. Such a season as was experienced in 1912 materially reduced their numbers. Wet weather at hatching time was a severe cb ok to undue increase, and this was followed later in the season in September by the appearance of the white fungus, Sporotrichum glohuliferum, which killed fully 25 per cent of the mature insects. u RELATION OF WEATHER TO CHINCH BUG INCREASE. A succewion of dry •ummere, especially during the months of May and June, thus covering the hatching period, is likely to induce an outbreak. On the other hand, a very wet speU at hatching time may be sufficient to overcome a bad attack, but this is not always the case. The rains drive many of the young bugs to the ground, and bury them in the mud, compacting the soil around them and permanently covering them. Wet weather also favours the development of fungous diseases among them. Fig. 3.— Chinch Bag in fourth »ta([e, previous to final moult (OriRinal. EnUrged twenty times). PREVENTION. As the Chinch Bug hibernates under rail fences, tree trunks, tufted grasses, and rubbish of all descriptions, clean farming, coupled with regvUr rotation of eropi. « at once suggested. So far as may be practicable, bum oyer all waste places ; burn aU rubbish as late in the fall as possible so as to expose the hibernating insects to the rigours of the winter. To be effective, the burninsr must be done thoroughly, otherwise little or no good will result. It is necessary to burn right down into the crowns of the grass. As this is usually impracticable on a large scale, and often impossible owing to the weather, the only safe measure is to thoroughly deep plough an infested pasture as late as possible in the fall, being careful to turn under every bit of grass and plant the ground to a hoed or leguminous crop the following spring. As most of the infested meadows and pastures are adjacent to wood lots in which the greater part of the bugs hibernate, it seems reasonable to believe that if a strip of land, next to the wood lot. was ploughed early in the fall and planted to wheat, it would serve as an excellent bait crop for the bugs coming out of their winter quarters. An inviting food would be at first hand, the eggs would be deposited on the wheat plants when the whole could be promptly destroyed, including, of cour^, the bugs, by efficient ploughing and immediately rolling the ground. It REMEDIES. OUin, an. Post //o/..-Shou.d.thc. j^-t, W abu^danUn a g^ or .wath should be cut around the -fe«^^^^^^^ ^ije .11 round crop. If the ground is hard, clear a »"*««=%^ ; y^ ^^^ f„ the purpoM. the field. An ordinary hoe will be ^f "y °. ** "/^'f»rt As soon as cutting corn- Then dig post holes twenty-four to thirty ^^^j*^ «Pf ^ iu«Tal" g the cleared mences, a thin line of No. 7 asphalt road oil» should be ^""^^ ^rk W A thin surface. .Xu ordinary water-can with the rose removed wi 1 do «'« ^°« *^"- -^^eeds line of oil .hould surround the o««Wc edge of the pos ^oks^ A^s har^stmg pr ^^^ and the bugs are threatened with starvation, they ^'''X wl^r th^ wHI cease to parts of the field. As soon n. th^y ^T she:rTSt':fT:.E ^1 Z post K wLX-'inat be %:n:pti%^^5X Pouring^n a little Kerosene, or Uero- '^"Vrotrtion between adjacent farmers i. ^^-^-^ ----"ng! Hdthc monsurw nre delayed, the young nutating bugs will have developed wmgs. ana barrier of course will be useless. , f„„ow may be Dust., Funow.-Should tlie weather be very dry and hot, t^^ dus y f rrow may used to «ood advantage. A strip of land "-^^-^f; *^! jifp^ ploughe.1 next to the infcstedjeld. The ^-"^te^ht C^^^^^^^^^ "'"•■'• disc harrow until it is reduced to dust. Ihen a T''""''^' '"^ , .. j fu„„w be renewed, a thin line of asphalt road oil may he poured f^""^. ^"^^.''''"""yij ^^^ method of makinp the nicotine is as follows :— Soap, 2 ounces. Sck W 40." * ounce (40 per cent, nicotine). (See Note 2. page 13.) Heat the watr^r noarlv to the boiliuff point, thoroughly di.solviug tho soap and thou add the nlitin.. solution. If soft wntcr o„„ bo "l'!"-;;<^- "f-^ ' ssl'r^' An As wth all sucking insects, thoroughness i" "P-ymg is "^'f "^^^^^'X, tte S:nrnsrv™\Srr.:: ^:^:^ ™~ od e wte thoro il a daupcr of the foli.n^o bcins b irned. The nicotine solution is so mucrmore, mdent and the dau.er of plnut injury so slight that, where it is possible, tliis substance should be uso«l in preference to all others. NATT^RAL CONTROL. Unlike u,ost of our other insect posts which, for .. time, seem to gain the mastery of a tract of country, the Chiu.h Bup enjoys almost P-f --"l ™'"r*^//"";';",Tc bv bird=. and appears to be attacked by few insect parasites. \ cry few of o"r >nsec tfvorouV birds are known to feed upon the Chinch Bug to any -tent; the qua i T>robnblv feeds upon this bug to a larger extent than any other b rd, but, as in tne el of many of our beneficial insectivorous birds, it does not receive the measure of protection it justly deserves. _ _ — ~ • See Note 1, page 13. FUNGOUS DISEASES OF THE CHINCH BUG. The chief means of natural control of Chinch Bufrs nrc severnl fungous diseases, but the only one that has been found in Canada i* the well-knmvn Chinch Bur fungus Sporotrichum glohuliferum. Believing that some gct. Apparent absence of fungus among Chinch Bugs in a field is evidence of unfavourable conditions, rather than a lack of fungus spores. Advocating artificial infection or encouraging it by sending out diseased bugs does not serve the best interests of the farmer, since his attention is thus diverted from other and more efficient methods of combating the pests." NOTES. 1. The asphalt road oil previously meutiouod can be obtained from the Standard Oil Company, Whiting, Illinois, and it is particularly important to state that No. 7 grade is required. 2. The nicotine solution, commonly known as " Black Leaf 40," can be obtained from the Kentucky Products Co., Kentucky, U.S.A. The price i^ $12.o0 per galloit. exclusive of the express charges.