﻿75 
  

  

  THE 
  SPONTANEOUS 
  OCCURRENCE 
  OF 
  WHITE 
  MUS- 
  

   CARDINE 
  AMONG 
  CHINCH-BUGS 
  IN 
  1895. 
  

  

  The 
  fact 
  that 
  the 
  fungi 
  of 
  disease 
  become 
  locally 
  much 
  more 
  ap- 
  

   parent 
  among 
  chinch-bugs 
  after 
  some 
  years 
  of 
  excess 
  in 
  numbers 
  of 
  

   the 
  insects 
  themselves 
  has 
  already 
  been 
  repeatedly 
  mentioned. 
  The 
  

   receipt 
  in 
  1895 
  of 
  large 
  numbers 
  of 
  packages 
  of 
  living 
  bugs, 
  sent 
  to 
  

   the 
  office 
  with 
  the 
  expectation 
  that 
  they 
  would 
  be 
  exposed 
  by 
  us 
  to 
  

   the 
  contagion 
  of 
  disease 
  and 
  returned 
  to 
  the 
  senders 
  for 
  use 
  as 
  an 
  in- 
  

   fection 
  material, 
  gave 
  me 
  a 
  favorable 
  opportunity 
  to 
  ascertain 
  the 
  

   condition 
  of 
  the 
  insects 
  sent 
  with 
  reference 
  to 
  the 
  presence 
  of 
  disease 
  

   among 
  them 
  when 
  received. 
  The 
  first 
  lot 
  of 
  the 
  season 
  arrived 
  May 
  

   8 
  from 
  Highland, 
  Madison 
  county. 
  They 
  were 
  sent 
  in 
  a 
  tin 
  box 
  with 
  

   wheat 
  for 
  food. 
  Several 
  hundred 
  were 
  dead 
  when 
  received, 
  but 
  none 
  

   showed 
  traces 
  of 
  an 
  external 
  fungus 
  growth. 
  All 
  were 
  placed 
  in 
  a 
  

   contagion 
  box 
  of 
  the 
  usual 
  construction, 
  and 
  a 
  very 
  profuse 
  growth 
  

   of 
  Sporotrichum 
  globulifenim 
  appeared 
  on 
  their 
  bodies 
  three 
  days 
  

   later—an 
  interval 
  so 
  short 
  for 
  the 
  full 
  development 
  of 
  this 
  fungous 
  as 
  

   to 
  make 
  it 
  practically 
  certain 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  infected 
  when 
  received. 
  

  

  Thereafter 
  all 
  such 
  lots 
  were 
  placed, 
  immediately 
  on 
  their 
  receipt- 
  

   in 
  Mason 
  fruit-jars, 
  each 
  with 
  a 
  little 
  moist 
  sand 
  in 
  the 
  bottom, 
  and 
  

   were 
  kept 
  there 
  with 
  the 
  screw 
  cap 
  of 
  the 
  jar 
  tightly 
  closed 
  upon 
  the 
  

   rubber 
  ring, 
  a 
  management 
  which 
  effectually 
  prevented 
  all 
  infection 
  

   from 
  without 
  unless 
  during 
  the 
  brief 
  interval 
  of 
  the 
  transfer 
  from 
  the 
  

   package 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  bugs 
  arrived 
  to 
  the 
  fruit-jar 
  in 
  which 
  they 
  were 
  

   kept. 
  The 
  normal 
  rate 
  of 
  growth 
  and 
  development 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  

   muscardine 
  fungus 
  on 
  dead 
  bugs 
  is 
  such 
  that 
  I 
  think 
  it 
  practically 
  

   certain 
  that 
  these 
  were 
  infected 
  when 
  r^^ceived 
  if 
  the 
  fungus 
  appeared 
  

   among 
  them 
  conspicuously 
  within 
  less 
  than 
  three 
  days 
  after 
  their 
  

   enclosure 
  in 
  the 
  jar. 
  If 
  such 
  appearance 
  occurred 
  later 
  than 
  three 
  

   days, 
  it 
  seems 
  possible, 
  although 
  in 
  most 
  cases 
  scarcely 
  probable, 
  that 
  

   they 
  had 
  become 
  infected 
  after 
  arrival. 
  

  

  The 
  second 
  lot 
  of 
  the 
  season, 
  received 
  from 
  Sangamon 
  county, 
  wa.s- 
  

   placed 
  on 
  damp 
  sand 
  May 
  14, 
  and 
  two 
  days 
  later 
  one 
  bug 
  was 
  dead 
  

   and 
  covered 
  with 
  Sporol 
  n'cit 
  am 
  (jlobulifenini. 
  In 
  three 
  days 
  more 
  

   two 
  others 
  were 
  in 
  like 
  condition. 
  

  

  Another 
  lot, 
  from 
  Hamilton 
  county 
  in 
  Southern 
  Illinois," 
  arriving 
  

   May 
  17, 
  was 
  without 
  traces 
  of 
  Sporotrichum 
  five 
  days 
  thereafter. 
  In 
  

   ten 
  days, 
  however, 
  a 
  great 
  many 
  were 
  dead 
  and 
  sevt-ral 
  do/ens 
  were- 
  

   well 
  covered 
  with 
  the 
  funu'us 
  of 
  white 
  muscardine. 
  

  

  