INFLUENCE OF PRECIPITATION. ' ?>1 
Dr. Lintner, in his second report, while discussing the outbreak of 
chinch bug in New York during 1882-83, calls attention to the fact 
that both in 1881 and 1882 there was an excess of precipitation. On 
page 158 of his report Dr. Lintner says that spring, summer, and autumn 
were exceptionally wet. In spring heavy and continued rains flooded 
meadows which, later, showed the effect of chinch-bug attack. Even at 
haying time while the bugs were young and, according to all accounts. 
easily killed by heavy rains, they persisted in multiplying and tiring 
despite the fact that rains were so frequent and severe that only a 
portion of the hay could be gathered in a proper condition. This was 
the state of affairs on July 5 when the hay was cut, and on October 10 
Dr. Lintner stated that owing to continued rains grass was still lying 
in the fields and could not be gathered, while fields of oats remained 
unharvested. In ail of the reports given of this outbreak it was stated 
that the damage was first observed in August or September, and I 
believe that this will hold good as applied to northeastern Ohio. 
As has been stated the females oviposit as a rule at or just below the 
surface of the ground, and the young make their way upward in order 
to secure food. In case of cultivated grains this mode of procedure is 
absolutely imperative, as the bases of the plants are at that time too 
tough and woody to offer sufficient food. But in the case of timothy 
the conditions are entirely different, as the bulb of this plant, situated 
just below the surface of the ground and convenient to the place of 
oviposition, furnishes an ample supply of food without making it nec- 
essary for the young to crawl upward in order to secure it. Then, too, 
the surface of the ground in cultivated fields is nearly or quite free of 
dead leaves and stems, there being little but the vertical-growing plants 
to afford protection from the weather. In timothy meadows the sur- 
face of the ground is usually covered to the depth of an inch or more 
with dead and decaying stubble and leaves, and the top of the ground 
itself is often more or less loose and mellow in the immediate proximity 
to the bulbs of the plants. It would appear that we might here have 
a partial solution of the problem of the vital effects of precipitation on 
the young bugs. Besides, for aught we know the progeny of this quite 
short-winged form may be better able to withstand naturally the effect 
of drenching rains than that of the east-bound long-winged form. We 
must recollect that in the one case the progenitors have worked their 
way over hot, arid plains as well as cool, damp prairies, while in the 
other case the tide of migration lay between the more elevated lands 
and the sandy beaches of the seashore where there was always a more 
or less near proximity to the ocean, until the tide o\ migration left the 
seashore and drifted westward over New York and onward into north- 
eastern Ohio. (See map, tig. 17.) 
This influence of precipitation on the young chinch bugs while in the 
act of hatching, and that of temperature upon the adults in winter, are 
the only cases where meteorological conditions appear to have a direct 
