HEMIPTERA. 115 



birds it has quite a number of enemies red- winged black- 

 birds, brown thrashers, house wrens, prairie chickens, 

 meadow larks, and quails. Of all these, the quail is the 

 most important enemy. The quail is protected by law; 

 but there is no good and sufficient reason why this bird 

 should be killed in the so-called legal season. North of 

 Lat. 38 N. the breeding season of the quail begins in 

 May and extends as far as September; probably two 

 broods are raised in the northern states and three in the 

 southern. Why so valuable an ally of the farmers of the 

 land should annually be killed off in such numbers by men 

 is inexplainable, save on the ground that their slaughter 

 is the gratification of an instinct which is savage at best, 

 and probably a relic of the old days when man was a 

 savage and had to conquer the animals about him in order 

 to survive. If such enthusiasts would turn their attention 

 to the fierce carnivorous animals, tigers, lynxes, cata- 

 mounts, . for example, instead of some small, weak, 

 fluttering bird, perhaps with a nestf ul of young, it would 

 be creditable to the man, kind to the bird, and beneficial to 

 the human tribe in general. 



Certain climatic conditions seem to check the spread 

 of the chinch bug. Heavy rains, especially in May, the 

 height of its breeding season, or a continuously cold, wet 

 spring, impose quite effective restraints upon it. 



Among the artificial, or perhaps one should say, the 

 other natural enemies, are two tiny mould plants, similar 

 to the moulds which attack our house flies in the autumn, 

 leaving them a mere shell filled with the white thready 

 growth of the plant. Certain bacteria are also present in 

 the intestinal caeca. As early as 1865, Dr. Shiner recorded 

 the fact of finding large numbers of chinch bugs of all 

 ages, dead upon native grasses and corn. He called it a 



