1902] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 129 
tribution. It appears on the bugs in the field at times, 
and the Sporotrichum, has sometimes received credit for 
good work done by this species. It producesa gray coat 
on the bodies of dead bugs. 
But chinch-bugs sometimes die in large numbers, and 
present none of the symptoms of attack by either of the 
above fungi. The fluids of these bugs examined under 
a Microscope are often swarming with a micro-organism, 
which received, many years ago, the name “Bacillus in- 
sectorum.” It is one of the microbes such as we find as- 
sociated with certain infectious human diseases, and al- 
though it is easily grown artificially in beef broth and in 
nutrient gelatine, it has not, thus far, in experiment, 
proved of value in destroying the chinch-bug in the field. 
These are the enemies most useful to us, it is thought — 
from their destruction of chinch-bugs. The chinch-bug 
fungus (Sporotrichum) has been quite extensively grown 
artificially in several uf the Middle States, and thous- 
ands of farmers have used it in their fields. In Kansas 
it has been more extensively used than elsewhere, and 
the testimony of farmers there has been at times strongly 
in favor of the effectiveness asa remedy for chinch-bug 
injury. The testimony of those who have been chiefly 
coucerned in its culture and distribution is, however, 
somewhat less positive, owing, partly, to unquestionable 
failure of the fungus to catch under some circumstances, 
and partly to the fact that the fungus appears spontan- 
eously in fields, making it impossible to say, under any 
ordinary field test, that it was actually introduced arti- 
ficially. In Kentucky the fungus has been cultivated and 
distributed now for two summers to all farmers who ap- 
plied for it. Not all who received packages have re- 
ported to me, but the majority of those reporting to date; 
who actually used the fungus, assert that it cleared their 
fields of the bugs. Some were in doubt, not being sure 
but that the disappearance of the bugs was caused di- 
