seriously ravaged the same area twice. The nearest to come thereto is
northeastern Ohio, in Ashtabula, Trumbull, Portage, and Mahoning
counties, where considerable damage was done in meadows last year,
and fully as much, if not more, is being caused this year. (See fig. 3.)
The immunity from attack of chinch bug continuously enjoyed by
Clark, Greene, and Montgomery counties, as also portions of other
counties adjacent, I find it impossible to account for. The map of ele-

FIG. 4.-Map of Ohio, giving elevations at various points as determined by railway surveys (original).
vations (fig. 4) plainly shows that elevation was not responsible, as
practically the same elevations obtain in the extreme northeast, where
destruction has been caused during both of these years. More than
that, the former area includes a section of level prairie country between
narrow belts of timber, that has never been wooded in the history of
its occupancy by the white man, and is the very place of all others
where the chinch bug might be looked for during years of abundance.

Meteorological data throw no light whatever upon the problem, and I am forced to content myself with simply placing the facts upon record, leaving a solution of the puzzle to the future.

The continued ravages of this pest in Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, and Portage counties is even more perplexing, and its habits here differ quite radically from what are accredited to this species over the entire western country. Here, again, elevation offers no aid, as it does not differ materially from that of the unaffected area of which mention has just been made, and, besides, the much more closely situated counties of Summit, Medina, Wayne, and Stark, which have so far also escaped attack, have very nearly similar elevations. Precipitation or wet weather could hardly be expected to account for the unique features of this portion of the problem, and I can not find any indication of such influences. An examination of isothermal lines, however, shows that this area is much colder than any other portion of Ohio, and that in this respect it belongs in the latitude of Ontario, Canada, the temperature of northern Trumbull County being near that of the country about Detroit, Mich. While I have found the species breeding in wheat fields in Ashtabula County early in June, the date of appearance of the fall brood of young in this locality is uncertain.' While the species breeds in wheat, the greatest injury is here worked in timothy meadows, and not only does breeding probably take place here, also, but there are strong reasons for suspecting that it may live over winter and continue its attack a second year in the same meadow. Two or three cases have come to my notice where the attack was begun on one side of a meadow last year, and a part destroyed, ravages beginning this year where these ceased last fall, and being carried on until the remaining portion had been destroyed. At wheat harvest, instead of going from a wheat field to corn, as is usual elsewhere, the migration is, apparently, to meadows, and I am unable to find that any material injury has been done to corn in this section of the State, and have found the bugs in cornfields but very rarely, if at all. That the species is here less nomadic than elsewhere is also indicated by the abundance of individuals of the short-winged form, fully 10 per cent of the adults in August having this character, so rarely found elsewhere to the south or west. In attacking timothy (blue grass and clover are left untouched) no attention is paid to either leaves or stem, the bulb only being attacked, so that one may pass through a meadow literally alive with bugs and not see a single one, but on drawing away the dead leaves and rubbish the surface and about these bulbs will be found as thickly populated as a small ant hill. As an indication of the gregarious habit being retained by the adults, instead of scattering as is

On my return from the Buffalo meeting, August 28, a very few pupæ and an occasional adult, red and freshly molted, were observed, the greatest majority by far being fully developed. There were no young to be found and pairing was in no case observed.

usual elsewhere as soon as wings are obtained, a meadow is not attacked throughout at the same time, but the bugs appear to move in compact bodies, and one may see the uninjured portion clearly defined, the edge taking on a slight tinge of yellow, then yellowish brown, followed by the thoroughly browned and dead grass, all within a space little more than a yard in width and stretching away in an irregular course across the field, in much the same manner as is to be witnessed when bugs migrate from a wheat field to an adjoining cornfield in other portions of the State.

So far as temperature is concerned, this portion of Ohio belongs with northwestern Pennsylvania, western New York, and the southern half of Ontario, Canada, an area over which the chinch bug is supposed to be comparatively rare, even southern Michigan and northern Indiana being so far exempt from its ravages. This would place northeastern Ohio on the extreme northern border of the species,' and lead us to suspect that if it ever does break out in Canada in destructive numbers it will be found to ravage the timothy meadows more than elsewhere. I have always held to the opinion that the parasitic fungus Sporotrichum globuliferum could only be used in a manner to offer relief to the farmer during wet seasons, and where there was a superabundance of the host insect, and though I have been severely criticised, am of this opinion still. For years I have been waiting such a combination of conditions, as they do not often occur owing to the fact that wet weather during the hatching season is fatal to a large per cent of the young, and not until the present year have my hopes and desires in this direction been gratified. To learn that a measure will fail under adverse conditions is but half satisfactory, and before one can feel at all satisfied the same measures must be tested under favorable conditions. This year I can say that, with all conditions favorable, Sporotrichum globuliferum has done all that Professor Snow or any other entomologist has claimed for it, but under conditions as adverse as these have been favorable the results will prove quite the reverse. While I do not find any reason for the immunity from attack this year over the area where this fungus was distributed last year, believing that this can be accounted for by peculiar meteorological conditions, it saved farmers thousands of dollars where it was used the present season. Where applied early in June, though it did not save the wheat crop, it did in many cases so reduce the number of bugs before they had advanced far into the cornfields that they were rendered powerless. In wheat fields, where an early application was made, the furrows and other depressions in the surface were soon white with diseased bugs,

'Since the publication of my paper in Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XVIII, Feb., 1896, and later, and revised in Bulletin 69, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Mr. W. H. Harrington informs me that he has a specimen taken by Dr. Fletcher, in Winnepeg, and that he has himself collected it along the seashore almost on the boundary line between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

and in the mellow ground of the cornfields a slight displacing of the upper surface with the foot would reveal myriads of their dead bodies intermixed with the soil. One farmer told me that upward of 1,000 neighboring farmers had visited his fields to secure dead bugs to place in such of their own fields as were infested, and I have myself seen good results from this method of introduction, taking pains to compare the conditions in such fields with those existing where Sporotrichum had not been introduced, and where careful search failed to reveal its presence.

While the practical value of this fungus has, in past years, probably been overestimated, it is to be regretted that there is at present a tendency to rush to the opposite extreme. Statements to the effect that it is of no practical value to the farmer, or that artificial introduction is useless, as when the conditions are favorable it will appear in a natural manner and do its work, are to say the least ill advised and true only under certain conditions. It is worthless to the farmer during a period of drought, or when the bugs are scattered, but it is practical and effective under conditions the reverse of these. It will sometimes appear in the fields in a perfectly natural manner, but this is uncertain, and we have here only one of many instances where science can and does facilitate and accelerate the usually slow mechanism of nature.

Mr. Fernald asked if the northern limit of the distribution of the chinch bug had been accurately determined.

Mr. Webster stated that he had received a specimen which had been collected by Mr. Fletcher in Winnebago.

Mr. Howard stated that specimens of this insect had been received from Cape Breton.

Mr. Fletcher could not give any information concerning the Winnebago specimen, but stated that the chinch bug is not an insect which has any economic importance in Canada, and that it is maritime solely, occurring also along the Great Lakes, but not in numbers sufficient to cause damage.

Mr. Fernald stated that in the years of collecting by himself and students of Orono, Me., only one specimen had been taken.

Mr. Perkins reported that it has been present for the past five years in a limited area in Vermont at Lake Champlain. It had only come to his attention the past year, and he is now investigating it. It had not previously been reported as occurring in the State, so far as he knew, but is now doing considerable damage, particularly to corn and timothy, although confined to small tracts.

In response to a question from Mr. Howard, Mr. Perkins stated that the elevation of the infested tract near the lake is not above 300 or 400 feet.

Mr. Perkins also stated that very little wheat is raised in Vermout, in response to a question by Mr. Fernald.

Mr. Webster, referring to the food plants mentioned by Mr. Perkins, stated that in northeast Ohio the damage is confined to timothy, corresponding with the experience of Mr. Lintner in New York; but in the northwestern part of the State it affects seriously wheat and corn and does scarcely if any damage to timothy. He asked if any one could explain this anomaly.

Mr. Smith wished to be informed whether the chinch-bug disease had failed to take hold successfully at any point in Ohio the present year. Mr. Webster could not answer with any definiteness. No disease, he said, had been distributed in the vicinity of the Ohio River, and where much chinch-bug damage occurred in this district no presence of the disease was seen. He is of the opinion that the disease had taken hold wherever it had been properly distributed, the success the present year being accounted for by the very favorable weather conditions. With normal conditions or with insufficient moisture this result would not have been so marked.

Mr. Hopkins referred to the appearance of this insect in the mountain regions of West Virginia. Year before last it was a great pest in both oats and corn. This year it had not been particularly noticed. The region infested was said to be in the transition zone, and he sug gested that perhaps temperature might explain the difference in habit of the insect noted by Mr. Webster. The present year his attention had been called to it in only one locality, and that in the central part of the State.

Mr. Webster stated that the chinch bug seems to require level country, and that the damage by it is insignificant in mountainous districts.

Mr. Fernald stated that the specimen taken by him was in a region. where the Maine and Canadian faunas overlapped and at an elevation of about 500 feet.

Mr. Bethune knew of but a single instance of its occurrence in the Province of Ontario, and this was limited to one small district. He thought it would be much more likely to occur in Canada, if any. where in numbers, in the region northeast of Lake Erie, which is in closest proximity to Ohio.

Mr. Howard, referring to Mr. Webster's experience in attempting to make predictions relative to chinch-bug damage, mentioned an experience of his own in this connection in 1888, when, from all conditions and in view of previous experience, he was led to state that the year 1888 would not be a bad chinch-bug year. In the spring alarming reports came from many parts of the West and he feared that his reputation as a prophet would be irretrievably lost and he prayed for rain. Early in June abundant rains came and the bugs disappeared, and his reputation was saved as though by an especial act of Providence. With reference to the occurrence of this insect in the Vir

ginias, he stated that he had received many reports of the occurrence