INJURY TO CORN BY THE TIMOTHY BILL-BUGS 
(SPHBNOPHORUS SP.)- 
In a general article on "The Corn Bill-bugs in Illinois," pub- 
lished in my Eleventh Report as State Entomologist (pages 1-26), a 
brief account was given of observations made in fields near Taylor- 
ville, Christian county, in 1902 (page 7) ; but the data in my pos- 
session concerning injuries to corn at this place and their relation 
to previous crops and to the history of the land, were not fully util- 
ized in that paper. Our observations and correspondence have made 
it evident for some time that bill-bug injury to corn is imperfectly 
appreciated by corn growers and but little understood by them, and 
it consequently seems desirable that the careful work done on this 
insect injury near Taylor ville should now be fully reported and thor- 
oughly discussed. 
June 26, 1902, Mr. D. S. Dalbey, a senior agricultural student in 
the University of Illinois, sent me the following note: — 
"I have received from my father, Wm. M. Dalbey, of Taylorville, Illinois, 
some specimens of corn plants affected by the corn bill-bug. The land on w^hich 
the infested corn was grown is timothy sod plowed in April of this year, and i.s 
located two miles northeast of Taylorville, on my father's farm. The damaged 
area covers forty acres, and the extent of the damage involves about half the 
stand. The plants affected are not dead, but have a sickly yellow color, and the 
leaves are punctured with holes." 
I further learned that this land had been in timothy for the four 
years preceding, and the year before that in wheat. Clover and 
timothy had been originally sown together, but the clover ran out 
and the crop was practically pure timothy by 190 1. 
Examination of Injured Field. 
June 30, 1902, I sent Mr. E. S. G. Titus to Taylorville with in- 
structions to make a careful study of the condition of the infested 
field and to collect information for a comparison of its agricultural 
history with that of other fields of corn in its neighborhood, the ob- 
ject being to ascertain the full effect of bill-bug injury to corn on up- 
lands, and to discover any differences in respect to this injury due 
to differences of agricultural management. 
This work was done by Mr. Titus with characteristic thorough- 
ness, intelligence, and skill. On his first visit, made June 30, he 
platted the Dalbey field, selecting and marking 650 hills which had 
been more or less injured by corn bill-bugs. On another visit, August 
10 and II, he made notes on the condition of these hills, and 
