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reports of tlieir appearance have come from Northern Illinois. 
Entomological observers report the diseases in Minnesota, Iowa, 
md Ohio. 
Lugger, Otto. —Fungi which Kill Insects. (Univ. of Minn., 
Coll, of Agriculture, Bull. No. 4, p. 37. Abstracts in Farm¬ 
ers’ Review, Nov. 14, 1888, p. 721; in Prairie Farmer,. 
Dec. 1, 1888. p. 778, and in Indiana Farmer, Nov. 17, 1888, 
p. 7.) 
Chinch bugs have done immense damage in Minnesota to the 
various cereals during the last three years, chiefly in the more 
southern counties. Owing to the dry warm summers of ’85, ’86, 
md ’87 they have increased steadily, extending westward and 
northward. In the spring of 1888, many bugs were killed 
n their winter quarters by cold and wet weather, but 
.arge numbers wintered on the slopes of the hills and formed 
’enters of distribution. The weather being generally favorable, 
:he first brood of bugs became quite numerous and destructive 
m the Experiment Station farm, and the second threatened dis¬ 
aster. Oats, rye, wheat, and some of our grass, were utterly de¬ 
stroyed. To protect the corn all the infested fields were sur¬ 
rounded by a six-inch board fence fitting snugly to the ground, 
he upper edge being painted from time to time with tar, -which 
prevented the insects from crossing. The famishing armies were 
trapped in holes drilled in the ground close to the fence. As 
ene hole was filled it was closed and another opened. These 
holes, being quite deep, were wet, and the chinch bugs within 
soon became the victims of a fungus disease which spread rap- 
dly to the fields and destroyed thousands, all showing the char¬ 
acteristic white mycelial threads and spores of the disease. The 
"ungus seems a true species of Entomophthora. The disease was soon 
checked by warm dry weather, but by artificially producing favorable 
londitions it was protracted for a time on a limited scale. (Specimens 
if the diseased bugs were placed in tight-fitting tin boxes and 
mailed to eighteen places in Southern Minnesota and the contents 
Frown into infested fields, apparently with good results, but it is 
aot certain that the disease may not have occurred spontaneously. 
However this may be, the disease has done its work, and it is 
not likely that the chinch bug will soon be a menace to our farm¬ 
ers. 
Marten, John. —Early History of the Chinch Bug in Illinois. 
(Prairie Farmer, Dec. 15, 1888, v. 60, p. 818.) 
First published notice of chinch bug in Illinois in Prairie Farm¬ 
er of 1845, which says it was in Tazewell, Will, and other 
counties in 1840. W. T. Shelby, Esq., of Olney, has lately in¬ 
formed our State Entomologist that it was in Edwards county in 
1828. 
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