piogiGss, immense numbers of tliese Micrococci developed, many 
- them single 01 double, but most in chaplets, like strings of 
•ads. Careful measurement of individuals showed their identity 
th those above described. 
At this time, the general disappearance of the chinch-bug, and the 
•nsequent difficulty of obtaining specimens for experiment put a 
pod to the investigation, and the solution of the questions still 
! maimng was necessarily postponed to another year. 
The studies here reported demonstrate the frequent association of 
peculiar bacterium (Micrococcus), essentially parasitic in char¬ 
ter, m the intestines of the chincli-bug, with a general diminution 
numbers among those affected, together with an apparent retard- 
ion of their development. They also show that this bacterium is 
sily cultivable in both vegetable and animal infusions, and pro- 
j bly multiplies spontaneously in the fluid exudations of corn-stalks 
mctured by the bugs ; The final step of the proof that it injuri- 
isly affects its host is yet lacking, and cannot be supplied until 
i opportunity is had to expose the insect artificially to its influence. 
Besides this bacterium, another parasitic fungus, certainly de¬ 
ductive in character, was found to infest the chinch-bug; and this 
ems to me more likely than the other to have been concerned in 
e wholesale disappearance of the bugs described by Dr. Shimer. 
have already mentioned the occurrence of many dead specimens 
a field at Jacksonville, attached to the stalks and leaves of the 
rn and buried in the silk. These were all embedded in a dense 
it of white fungus threads, which sometimes almost hid the body, 
le general resemblance of this growth to the fungus which com- 
mly attacks flies in autumn, often fastening them to the window 
ne, and bursting from their bodies in the form of a white efflo- 
scence, led me to suppose that this chinch-bug fungus was one of 
3 same character, and not a simple mold, forming after death, 
te bugs affected were both pupae and adults. Subsequent study 
Mi the microscope demonstrated the correctness of the above sur- 
se, as the fungus in question proved to belong to the same genus 
’ntomophthora) as that infesting flies; a fact of which I was as- 
i eed by Prof. Burrill, to whom some specimens were submitted. 
) was not possible to determine the species of the fungus in the 
Kge represented by my collections, but it was apparently different 
fim that of the house-fly. Recent studies of these fungi by Euro- 
rn biologists have confirmed the prevailing opinion that they are 
ue destructive parasites, the causes and not the consequences of 
imase and death. It seems not impossible that the white mold, of 
i ich Dr. Shinier speaks in the paragraph I have cited, was really 
i s parasitic fungus ; and if so, it was probably the cause of the 
iidemic disease which he describes. This fungus often runs its 
1 irse to a fatal result, without making any external appearance, 
•sting forth only after death. It is proper to say, however, that 
-Iso found three or four dead bugs at Normal, seemingly in the 
^ue condition as those above described, but which were really 
Lply buried in a harmless mold, as was easily seen with the 
^roscope. The parasitic forms are distinguished from the molds 
a glance, by the fact that in the former the threads are not di¬ 
ed off into cells by cross partitions, as they are in the latter. 
—4 
