26 Contagious Diseases of the Chinch-bug. 
During the months of April and May, 1896, nineteen pack- 
ages of chinch-bugs were received from farmers of Kansas, ; 
Indian territory, and Oklahoma, in which Sporotrichum was 
found already present when the packages were opened. In 
other cases the bugs from different localities were put into 
moist infection boxes as soon as they were received. ‘There 
they showed Sporotrichum so quickly that it must be concluded 
that they were infected before their arrival. So we have every 
reason to believe that Sporotrichum was already present in the 
spring of 1896 in the localities from which these packages were 
sent. . 
Freezing Experiments.— April 16, 1896, a few bugs were 
taken from their hibernating quarters and placed in stout 
glass bottles. The day that they were captured was warm and 
sunny, and the bugs were ‘very lively. Three Sporotrichwm as 
bugs found with them were placed in a tin box and put into ‘ it 
the bottle with the bugs, and these were then taken to the ice © : 
factory and inclosed in a cake of ice. hei 
On April 21, sixty-five hours after, the ice was broken and the —_ 
bugs were taken from the bottle. Onbeing warmedthey became 
very lively, only two or three being dead. The Sporotrichum 
was placed in a moist tumbler, and on the 23d it had taken new me 
growth and looked very fresh. < 
On May 1 Sporotrichum on agar in a test-tube was frozen up 
in a block of ice. After forty-three days a transfer was made 
from the frozen agar to sterilized beef broth, where the Sporo- 
trichum demonstrated its vitality by making a normal growth. 
REPORT OF A TRIP TO SOUTHERN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA. 
By Pror. W. C. STEVENS. 
The first calls for infected chinch-bugs in Kansas in 1896 © 
were from Cowley and Sumner counties. There was a stretch ~ 
of country, including the south-central counties and Oklahoma, 
where but little rain had fallen. The section was infested with i 
bugs. 
It was with great interest that the trip to the southern coun- 
ties was planned, for we wished to compare the southern por- 
tions of the state with the northern respecting the condition of 
the bugs and the general prevalence of Sporotrichum. se 
June 22. Belle Plaine,in Sumner county, was the first place i 
visited. On the eve of the 21st a heavy rain had fallen through- 
