bo, 
~I 
Since my first discovery, in 1882, of an unmistakable con- 
tagious disease of this insect (due to an Entomophthora), I have 
given prominent attention to the subject, greatly stimulated by 
observations made in 1887 and 1888 which demonstrated, quite 
to my satisfaction, the very important agency of these diseases 
in reducing to insignificance the most destructive outbreaks of 
this insect. It was in July, 1887, that I first found dead chinch 
bugs, evidently killed by a second fungus parasite (Sporotrichum 
globuliferum, Speg.), previously known as a botanical species, 
but not identified as the cause of the death of insects. The 
publication from time to time of the results of my observations 
and experiments strongly attracted the attention of economic 
entomologists to this subject, and published reports from other 
states—notably from Kansas—of the successful application of 
the germs of insect disease for the destruction of chinch bugs in 
the field aroused a widespread interest among farmers generally, 
frequently amounting to a confident belief that injuries by the 
chinch bug might be completely prevented by the distribution 
of diseased specimens in infested fields. The results of my 
own experiments did not by any means warrant this belief, but, 
as apparent at the beginning of the present season, had led me 
rather to conclude that the diseases at present known can be 
propagated among chinch bugs only under especially favorable 
circumstances, and that under those circumstances they are 
certain to appear spontaneously in our region, without very 
prolonged delay. Opportunities for experiment had been too 
few, however, in Illinois to warrant me in announcing this as a 
conclusion proven beyond dispute. I have consequently sup- 
plied to very many farmers of this State during the last two 
years numerous lots of infected chinch bugs, by means of which 
to introduce the contagious diseases of that insect into their 
own fields; but in so doing I have spared no pains to notify all 
concerned, both in official correspondence and by published 
circular, of the experimental character of the method, and of its 
hitherto variable, and.as yet problematical, results. 
A great increase of chinch-bug injury this season (1894) and 
the near prospect of very heavy loss throughout a large part of 
the State so greatly increased this demand upon me last spring 
for infection material that I was no longer able to meet it from 
current appropriations at my disposal, and with the aid of my 
