36 PAPERS ON CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 
The weather was somewhat drier, but agricultural conditions for 
the fall of 1910 were about as those of previous years, except that 
vegetation was practically all dry before frosts. Chinch bugs were 
not nearly so numerous as in the fall of 1909, clumps of Andropogon 
containing only 80 to 260 bugs each, whereas there were thousands 
the previous winter. During the early fall it was again observed 
that the corn husks were full of adult bugs, but by cold weather these 
were nearly all dead; the mild winter, however, permitted some -of 
these bugs to live through, and some were alive on February 24, 
1911. 
From the foregoing data, covering four seasons, there can be little 
doubt that in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and probably southern 
Ilhnois these clump-forming grasses form the principal hibernating 
quarters of the pest. This definite knowledge of their habits puts a 
most practical and effectual weapon into the hands of the farmer, 
which he may apply months in advance, in defense of his crops. 
The farmer can readily determine whether the grasses on or about 
his farm contain chinch bugs by pulling open the tufts of red sedge 
grass. (See Pl. V, fig. 3.) If the bugs are present in these clumps 
of grasses, it is of the utmost importance that they be burned. The 
habits of the hibernating generation and the migration of the spring 
generation offer the best opportunities for forestalling and preventing 
future ravages. 
PREVENTIVE MEASURES RECOMMENDED. 
DESTRUCTION OF CHINCH BUGS WHILE IN HIBERNATION. 
The burning of grasses and rubbish about the farm to destroy 
chinch bugs has been often recommended and is doubtless the most 
effective measure to be taken against future ravages of the pest. 
In the Southwest the chinch bugs are known to congregate in 
bunches of grass in late October and remain there till the warm 
days of early spring. It is only a matter of burning off these grasses 
at the proper time to effectually rid such places of the pest, and the 
grasses are generally sufficiently dry to burn readily by the Ist of 
November. The chinch bugs crawl deep down among the grass 
stems, a few of them even getting beneath the dust and débris, thus 
seeking protection from the freezes that are to come. It is very 
important that the grass be dry and yet burn slowly, so that the 
heat will thoroughly penetrate the dense grass and reach. the bugs. 
It is not necessary for the fire to come into direct contact with the 
bugs in order to kill them, as they died very quickly in the laboratory 
when exposed to the heat of a flame from 12 to 20 inches distant, the 
fatal temperature being in these experiments about 111° F. Fall 
burning of the grasses among which the bugs are congregated has a 
