34 KANSAS Academy of Science. 



I think this species has not heretofore been reported from Kansas, although it is a 

 common species farther east. So far I have only fonnd it in Sedgwick county. 



Ajjlopajjpus divaricatus, Gr. — This species is very abundant in sandy regions, in 

 the vicinity of Wichita, and, according to Smyth's "Catalogue of Flowering Plants 

 and Ferns of Kansas," it is found in Barton county, a great portion of which is in- 

 cluded in the sandy valley of the Arkansas. It is my intention to study this species 

 still further. 



Frcelichia gracilis, Moq. — -The habitat of this species needs to be studied more 

 carefully. I have collected only a few specimens, in sandy wastes near Wichita. 

 Reported also from Cherokee, Barton and Dickinson counties. (Smyth, "Catalogue 

 of Flowering Plants and Ferns of Kansas."') 



Hosackia Purshiana, Benth. — This species seems to be characteristic of sandy 

 districts, although quite common in other places, especially in western Kansas. 

 Have collected it in Cloud and Sedgwick counties. It is also reported from Pawnee, 

 Barton and Dickinson counties. (Smyth.) 



The following species may yet be added to this list, also, after a better knowl- 

 edge of them in regard to habitat is obtained: 



Pentstemon acuminatus, Dougl.; Pyrrhopappus scaposus, DC; Cyperus acumi- 

 natus, Torr.; Flaveria angustifolia, Pers.; Camelina sp.; Gramineae, several species. 



EXPERIMENTS FOR THE ARTIFICIAL DISSEMINATION OF A CONTA- 

 GIOUS DISEASE AMONG CHINCH-BUGS. 



BY PROF. F. H. SNOW, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 



At the last annual meeting of the State Board of Agriculture I presented a paper 

 concerning the diseases of the chinch-bug. Three of these diseases were considered, 

 and one of them was stated to have made its appearance in portions of eastern and 

 southern Kansas in 1888. Attention was called to the investigations of Professor 

 S. A. Forbes, the Illinois State Entomologist, and to the experiments of Dr. Otto 

 Lugger, of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. So late as May, 1889, 

 Professor Forbes looked upon the artificial introduction of these diseases as having 

 no more than a theoretical basis, and Dr. Lugger in the report of his own experi- 

 ments, expressed a doubt whether the fungus disease whose germs he distributed 

 to different localities in Minnesota in 1888, did not after all reach these localities 

 in the natural way. Being anxious if possible to settle this question and to 

 place in the hands of our farmers a new and more efficient weapon in their 

 warfare against their most formidable insect foe, I sought earnestly in the spring 

 and early summer of 1889 for the first indication of the appearance of either 

 of the three chinch-bug maladies. In these investigations I have been heartily 

 sustained by Secretary Mohler, who has furnished all possible aid in the ac- 

 complishment of the results finally attained. The last week in June I received a 

 letter from Dr. J. T. Curtiss, of Dwight, Morris county, conveying the gratifying 

 intelligence that a disease had broken out among the chinch-bugs, and that the 

 ground in many places in fields of oats and wheat was white with the dead bugs. 

 Dr. Curtiss stated that on June 22d he saw the first sick bugs, and in a few days 

 dead ones. From this date to June 30th, the disease destroyed the bugs in most of 

 the fields. Where the oats or wheat were heavy, shading the ground thoroughly, all 

 the bugs died. Where the crop was thin on the ground, many bugs escaped the dis- 

 ease. The Doctor was at once requested to forward samples of the sick and dead 



