26 



Mr. Webster, referring to tlie food plants mentioned by Mr. Perkins, 

 stated that in northeast Ohio the damage is confined to timothy, corre- 

 sponding with the experience of Mr. Lin trier in Xew York : bnt in the 

 northwestern part of the State it affects seriously wheat and corn and 

 does scarcely if any damage to timothy. He asked if any one conld 

 explain this anomaly. 



Mr. Smith wished to be informed whether the chinch-bug disease had 

 failed to take hold successfully at any point in Ohio the present year. 



Mr. Webster could not answer with any definiteness. Xo disease, he 

 said, had been distributed in the vicinity of the Ohio River, and where 

 much chinch-bug damage occurred in this district no presence of the 

 disease was seen. He is of the opinion that the disease had taken hold 

 wherever it had been properly distributed, the success the present year 

 being accounted for by the very favorable weather conditions. With 

 normal conditions or with insufficient moisture this result would not 

 have been so marked. 



Mr. Hopkins referred to the appearance of this insect in the moun- 

 tain regions of West Virginia. Year before last it was a great pest in 

 both oats and corn. This year it had not been particularly noticed. 

 The region infested was said to be in the transition zone, and he sug- 

 gested that perhaps temperature might explain the difference in habit 

 of the insect noted by Mr. Webster. The present year his attention 

 had been called to it in only one locality, and that in the central part 

 of the State. 



Mr. Webster stated that the chinch bug seems to require level 

 country, and that the damage by it is insignificant in mountainous 

 districts. 



Mr. Fernald stated that the specimen taken by him was in a region 

 where the Maine and Canadian faunas overlapped and at an elevation 

 of about 500 feet. 



Mr. Bethune knew of but a single instance of its occurrence in the 

 Province of Ontario, and this was limited to one small district. He 

 thought it would be much more likely to occur in Canada, if any- 

 where in numbers, in the region northeast of Lake Erie, which is in 

 closest proximity to Ohio. 



Mr. Howard, referring to Mr. Webster's experience in attempting to 

 make predictions relative to chinch-bug damage, mentioned an experi- 

 ence of his own in this connection in 1888, when, from all conditions 

 and in view of previous experience, he was led to state that the year 

 1888 would not be a bad chinch-bug year. In the spring alarming- 

 reports came from many parts of the West and he feared that his 

 reputation as a prophet would be irretrievably lost and he prayed for 

 rain. Early in June abundant rains came and the bugs disappeared, 

 and his reputation was saved as though by an especial act of Prov- 

 idence. With reference to the occurrence of this insect in the Vir- 

 ginias, he stated that he had received many reports of the occurrence 



