90 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



of tritici. Then, too, I notice the parasites of hordei, at least Eupelmus ally/di, French, 

 Semiotellus cJialcidiphagus, Walsh, and Websterellas tritici, Ashmead, emerge in August 

 and oviposit in the same straws from which they themselves emerged, the adults from 

 these emerging in spring. I have also noted the same thing in the two former species 

 where their host was the Hessian Fly. In both cases, however, I got fewer parasites in 

 spring than in August. 



So far as measures for their control are concei-ned, tritici can be largely overcome by 

 a rotation of crop, while both this and hordei will be destroyed by burning the stubble, a 

 measure equally applicable to the Hessian Fly and Wheat Stem-maggot, Meromyza amer- 

 icana. In some portions of the country, however, clover is sown among the young wheat 

 in early spring, and a burning over in summer under such conditions is impracticable. 



I wish to call attention to a few points in reference to the Chinch Bug, Blissus leu- 

 copterus. The area of extreme continued injury by this pest covers southern Minnesota,^ 

 southeast South Dakota, much of Nebraska and Kansas, all of Iowa, and much of Missouri, 

 Illinois, all of Indiana except northeastern portion, extreme southwest Ohio, and northern 

 Kentucky, though in the wheat region of the Mississippi Valley the pest is by no means lim- 

 ited to this area, nor does it confine itself to the wheat region at all. 



They are more abundant in Louisiana, where wheat is never cultivated, than they are 

 in northern Ohio, where this cereal is one-half of the grain crop. When they were working 

 their greatest havoc in southern and central Illinois and southwest Indiana I looked in vain 

 for them in northern Indiana. I do not understand why it is that a very large per cent, of 

 the adults found in Ohio, along Lake Erie, and in northern Indiana possess only aborted 

 ■wings ; yet I have found this to be the case. As you all know, the insect parasites of 

 this species are very few and of little account in holding it in check. For aid in this 

 direction we must look to Llie meteorological conditions unfavorable to their increase and 

 fungoid and bacterial parasites. These last will be found available during some seasois 

 and within a certain limit, but nature is not likely to use one of her servants to annihi- 

 late another. We m^y be able to emphasize their work in this direction by continual 

 artificial cultivation and distribution ; further than this we can not expect to go, and the 

 relief will at best be but local and temporary, though not by any means without value in 

 limited areas. The only difliculty is thai we, with certainty, can not foretell a year of 

 destructive abundance, and a few false alarms will so discourage the ordinary farmer that 

 he will do nothing to protect himself. For my own part I feel quite sure that if the bugs 

 can be induced to oviposit in spring in small plots of Millet or Hungarian grass, they can be 

 controlled by the use of these vegetal diseases to far better purpose than to attempt to do so 

 in the fields of ordinary cultivation. But there must be, somewhere, a central source of 

 supply where requests tor material can be promptly filled, as has been done by Prof. 

 Snow, before the plan will prove a success. Next in value to such plats is, I think, the 

 cornfields where the young bugs must of necessity congregate in compact masses and thus 

 facilitate contagion. 



It would appear almost visionary to advocate spraying apple orchards in midwinter 

 to protect the wheat crop, but nevertheless one of the most serious enemies of young fall 

 wheat passes its egg stage on the twigs of the Apple during the winter season. I refer to the 

 Apple Leaf-louse, Aphis mali, Fab. Soon after the young wheat plants appear in the fall 

 the winged viviparous females of this species flock to the fields and on these give birth to 

 their young, which at once make their way to the roots, where they continue reproduc- 

 tion, sapping the life from the young plants. On very fertile soils tliis extraction of the 

 sap from the roots has no very serious effect, but where the soil is not rich, and especially 

 if the weather is dry, this constant drain of vitality soon begins to tell on the plants. 

 Though they are seldom killed outright, these infested plants cease to grow, and later 

 take on a sickly look, and not until the Aphis abandons them, in autumn to return to the 

 Apple, do they show any amount of vigor. It is very seldom that the aflected plants 

 fully recover, at least in autumn, and the result must be to reduce their productiveness 

 the following year. 



The greater number of serious pests of our fields of Indian corn are such as work to 

 their injury below the surface of the ground. Th-^ larvae of Elaters devastate our low- 

 lands and the grubs of Lachnosterna ravage the higher lands, while Cutworms, Web 



