ENTOMOLOGY. 1071 



Dr. Riley found that the former also attacked it. Professor Forbes ascertained by 

 examinations of the contents of the stomach of a ground beetle, Agonoderua paJUpes 

 Fab., that one-fifth of the total food of this species was composed of chinch bugs. 

 Drs. Shimer and Walsh both claim that lacewing flits (Chrysopa) destroy chinch 

 bugs, and they are doubtless correct." 



Amoug the artificial remedies, the author suggests the burning over 

 of old grass lands and the burning of all rubbish under which the 

 chinch bug might hibernate. Another remedy suggested is that of 

 sowing protective grasses, as decoy crops for the chinch bug, and thor- 

 oughly plowing these under when they become infested by the migra- 

 tion of the chinch bug. The well-known coal-tar method was tried and 

 found to be very successful. The author also tried the method of plow- 

 ing deep furrows and digging post holes at intervals along the inner 

 line of these furrows, into which the chinch bugs fall and are later 

 destroyed. The use of kerosene emulsion as a spray to be applied 

 directly upon the infested crops gave good results and proved itself 

 very effective in destroying the chinch bug, even when used in a weak 

 solution. 



The summary of the author's remedial measures is as follows: 



"The insects may be destroyed iu their places of hibernation by the use of fire. 

 They can, under favorable meteorological conditions, be destroyed in the fields, if 

 present in sufficient abundance during the breeding season, by the use of the fungus 

 Sporotrichum globuliferum, if promptly aud carefully applied. They can be destroyed 

 while in the act of migrating from one field to another, by tarred barriers or deep 

 furrows supplemented by post holes, and by being buried under the surface of the 

 ground with the plow and harrow ; or the latter method can be applied after the 

 bugs have been massed upon plats of some kind of vegetation for which the bugs 

 are known to have a special fondness, which decoys should be so arranged as to either 

 attract the females and induce them to oviposit therein, or they should be arranged 

 With the idea of intercepting an invasion from wheatfields into cornfields, and, by 

 turning these decoys under with a plow and immediately smoothing and packing 

 the surface by harrow and roller, thus destroying them. While in the cornfields 

 they can be destroyed on the plants by applications of kerosene emulsion. - ' 



The author believes, from all evidence at hand, that the original home 

 of the chinch bug was in South or Central America, and that the United 

 States has been infested from its original home. He gives a map 

 showing the supposed course of migration of the chinch bug from 

 Central America up the Pacific coast of this country, along the Gulf 

 States, up the Atlautic coast, and directly north through the Mississippi 

 States. 



The periodical cicada, C. L. Marlatt (U. 8. Dept. Agr., Division 

 of Entomology Bui. No. 14, n. ser., pp. 148).— The general habits and 

 peculiarities of the insect are mentioned in the introduction to the 

 bulletin. The author distinguishes between the 17-year and 13-year 

 broods, and gives an account of the arguments for and against the 

 idea of these two forms being distinct species. All forms, including 

 the dwarf form, are considered as belonging to one species. 



The author believes that there was originally but one brood in the 

 United States, but that in consequence of slowly changing geological 



