86 



Other injurious insects besides the chinch bug in Kansas especially noticeable this 

 year were the Hessian Fly, in about the same abundance as usual. Much damage is 

 annually done by this pest. The Wheat Straw Worm {Isosoma tritici) was reported from 

 a dozen or more counties of the state in June. It occasioned considerable alarm and 

 really did some damage to the wheat in central and western Kansas. I received reports 

 of the presence of the worm from twenty-seven correspondents. It appeared in wheat 

 which had been planted on stubble ground, though the state of affairs shown in one or 

 two reports contradicted this general condition. One correspondent reports the worm in 

 wheat planted on sod ; another in a field of 40 acres new ground, only grown to wheat 

 once before, plowed last fall and after the wheat had come up fed off so close that the field 

 looked quite bare. The Wheat Head Army Worm (Leucania alhilinea) was reported in 

 June from a few fields. However, little damage was done. 



An attempted grasshopper scare was put down by a little investigation. Grasshop- 

 pers were reported to be in immense numbers in eastern Colorado and overflowing into 

 Kansas. I made a trip to the infested region and found the grasshoppers to be a local 

 species (Dissosteira lo7igipermis) which was in great abundance over about 300 square 

 miles of country near Arriba, Colo. Of course, no danger to Kansas was to be feared 

 from these locusts. Arriba is 70 miles west of the Kansas line. The limits of the in- 

 fested area extended approximately from Limon 16 miles east, 9 miles north, 7 miles west, 

 and diagonally southeast to Hugo, 15 miles. Within this area the two favoured grasses of 

 the range, buffalo and gramma grass, were eaten to the ground. The swarms when visited 

 (July 17) were almost entirely composed of pupee. Reports agree that the eggs from 

 which these swarms were hatched were deposited last fall by the locusts which flew into 

 this area in August and September from the south. And by observations during my trip 

 and by regular reports received since then I discovered that the locusts as fast as their 

 wings were acquired were flying south. Whenever there was a favouring wind from the 

 north the winged individuals would rise high in the air and fly directly southward, having 

 massed in great numbers along the southern boundary of the infested area. When the 

 wind was from the south, however, no flying would be indulged in. 



The rate of progress of the army of immature locusts was northward at the rate of 9 

 miles in about two weeks ; eastward at the rate of 2^ miles in 12 days. Over the face 

 of the country traversed by the hosts the ground looked bare and brown, owing to the 

 almost complete destruction of the grass leaves. When the devouring multitudes were at 

 work upon the grass the noise of the grinding of their jaws was distinctly audible as a 

 well-defined crackling sound. About the station of Limon the hogs of the town were 

 fattening upon the locusts, which also furnished food for turkeys, chickens and hawks. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB OF THE A. A. A. S. 



The Entomological Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 held its annual meeting at Washington, D. C, August 19-22, 1891, the President, H. 

 Osborn, of Ames, Iowa, in the chair. This meeting was one of the most successful ever 

 held both in point of attendance and interest ; seven sessions were held, at which forty- 

 two persons were present, the average attendance being twenty-two. The Entomological 

 Society of Ontario was represented by its Vice-President, Mr. J xmes Fletcher, of Ottawa. 

 A full official account of the proceedings has been published in the October and Novem- 

 ber numbers of the Canadian Entomologist (1891) tD which the reader is referred. 



