35 
and I think I have not seen as few of them for the last five years 
as we had this year; yet we have enough saved for seed. I do not 
believe there was any early brood this year here.” 
On the other hand, Mr. Harris writes: ‘In reply to your inquiry 
of the 4th inst., relating to the chinch-bug, I would say: the 
young chinch-bugs were very abundant prior to the 2%th of June, 
1882. At this date both the adult and the young were very abun- 
dant in both the rye and the winter wheat. But on the eve of the 
28th, we had the heaviest rain ever known in this section (61 inches 
of rain fell in less than two hours), and it destroyed both adults 
and young completely, as far as I had opportunity of observing; 
but did not destroy the eges already deposited in great numbers. I 
did not succeed in determining the date of hatching; but on July 8 
the young bugs could be gathered by the handful in several of the 
wheatfields about Cuba. A large part of the brood was destroyed 
by a rain about the 15th of July.” That the young chinch-bugs, if 
present, should have entirely escaped the close and continuous watch 
of three as careful observers as Prof. Burrill, Mr. Webster and Dr. 
Boardman seems to me incredible, yet in all three of the localities 
in which they made their search the species was abundant the pre- 
ceding year, especially so at Champaign and at Normal. Near the 
former place it did considerable damage to broom-corn and sorghum, 
and near the latter wheat fields were seriously attacked. As I have 
no reason whatever to doubt the exactness of the observations upon 
which the statements of Mr. Harris were based, I can only conclude 
that the chinch-bug failed to develop an early brood in some loeal- 
ities, but not in others. Mention was made in all the letters cited 
of the flight of bugs in midsummer, and a similar flight was noticed 
about the middle of June, south of Bloomington, in McLean county. 
The superintendent of the county poor farm there reported that the 
air was full of flying chinch-bugs at that time, and spoke especially 
of seeing a horse and rider literally covered with them. In a visit 
to Adams county in August, my assistant, Mr. A. B. Seymour, 
learned that chinch-bugs had been very numerous there in early 
spring, but were believed to have been killed by the rain. 
My own first observations on the chinch-bug were made on the 
12th ofzJuly, at Champaign, where I visited a large field of broom- 
corn belonging to Messrs. Bogardus and Johnson. These gentlemen 
reported that ten days previously, old bugs were abundant in the 
field and were beginning to pair, but that only a few young were 
then to be seen. At the time of my visit, nearly all the adults had 
disappeared, but some of those remaining were seen in copulo. The 
young were quite abundant, however, chiefly secreted between the 
sheath and stalks at the base of the broom-vorn, but also frequently 
occurring outside. ‘They were equally abundant on crab grass 
(Panicum sanguinale) which was the most abundant weed in the 
field. The common fox-tail grass (Setaria) was entirely wanting 
here, having all been destroyed by these insects during the preced- 
ing year. The growth of the broom-corn had been seriously checked 
by the bugs, but the recent weather had been favorable and the 
crop seemed now reviving. A small field of sorghum near by had 
been almost completely ruined by them, and other fields were threat- 
ened. ‘hey were also generally distributed through the corn, in the 
