115 



(in flaxseed stage) appear as adults about the middle of May. Larvae 

 and pupae are found throu<»'U June. Kansas Avinter wheat is harvested 

 from June 15 to July 15. 



The Chinch Bug {Blis,sus Icticopterm) has been fairly numerous this 

 year (1892), but there is no unusual amount of damage. The bug is 

 reported from sixty- five out of the one hundred and four counties of the 

 State. Prof. F. H. Snow has received applications this year from about 

 3,000 Kansas farmers for bugs infected with the contagious diseases 

 maintained in his laboratories. Adults which have hibernated begin to 

 appear in the fields of winter wheat about April 1. The farmers begin 

 to complain during the last half of the month. The young bugs appear 

 in June and during this month the serious injuries to wheat occur. At 

 harvest time the bugs leave the wheat fields and enter the fields of 

 young corn. In 1891 Chinch Bugs were abundant. Infected bugs were 

 sent by Prof. Snow in 1891 into seventy-eight counties of the State. 

 Sincel883, four years (1886-1889) have been especially marked as Chinch 

 Bug years. The portion of the State in which the bug is especially 

 prevalent is included between the meridians of 96^ and 98^ west and 

 extends entirely across the State from north to south. 



The Wheat Straw-worm (Isosoma tritici). — A considerable amount of 

 injury to Kansas wheat accredited to the Hessian Fly is really done by 

 the Wheat Straw- worm. In 1891 this insect was reported from about 

 one-fourth of the counties of the State, being esi)ecially prevalent in 

 central and western Kansas. Adults issued in March and Ai)ril from 

 last year's wheat straws, either in stubble or volunteer or stack, and 

 oviposit on the young winter wheat. The adults of this brood emerge 

 in the latter part of May and early part of June. The eggs are laid in 

 the now maturing wheat and the larvae pupate in the stubble or in the 

 stack before winter. The larvae usually lie just above the second node 

 below the head. In a bunch of straws from Eussell County over 75 

 per cent were infested. In these straws 40 -per cent of the pupae were 

 found above the first node below the head, 50 per cent above the sec- 

 ond node, and 10 per cent elsewhere. They lie in small, gnawed-out 

 cells and the heads are almost invariably directed uj)ward, i. e., toward 

 the head end of the straw. Eiipelmus allynii i)roves an effective natural 

 check to this pest, the parasitism being noticed in all examinations 

 made. As but about 5 per cent of the straw- worm flies have wings the 

 pest does not si)read rapidly and local efforts in fighting it by burning 

 old stacks and stubble containing x)upae in the winter or early spring 

 are very effective. 



The Wheat-head Worm {Leucania albilinia). — This pest annually does 

 some damage in the State. The worms feed after dark, and occa- 

 sionally occur in sufficient numbers to practically ruin a field of wheat. 

 They appear chiefly in fields planted on stubble ground -, wheat planted 

 on ground which has been fallow for a year or more rarely suffers. The 

 larvae appear in June. 



