32 
‘¢To judge intelligently of the effect of any attempt to intro- 
duce disease, the observer should examine very carefully, in ad- 
vance, the field in which the experiment is to be tried, and adja- 
cent fields as well, to see whether bugs dead with the white 
fungus may not already be present. If the disease appears at 
the point where the infected chinch bugs are placed, he should 
repeat this general examination, and make sure that the disease 
may not have occurred spontaneously and without special refer- 
ence to his experimental introduction of it. He should also 
notice whether young bugs (those without wings) are attacked 
by it, as, if they are not, it is quite likely it is only carrying away 
those about to die of old age. On the other hand, it should be re- 
membered that these especially susceptible adult bugs may 
afford the best means of securing a general dissemination of the 
fungus in the fields, where it may lie dormant for a considerable 
time, ready to spring into sudden activity when favorable 
weather conditions appear. 
«¢ Advantage should be taken of every considerable shower, 
and especially of every long rain, to scatter the diseased bugs, 
and all fields under observation should be thoroughly inspected 
some two or three days thereafter. 
Very truly yours, 
S. A. FORBEs, 
State Entomologist.” 
I was also careful in every published statement or written 
communication on the subject to warn all against reliance upon 
this method to the neglect of other preventive or destructive 
measures, and emphasized in every way its purely experimental 
character. 
In the meantime, experiments, carefully planned and closely 
followed up, were tried in the field by Mr. Marten and Mr. 
Johnson, both assistants of the office, by the distribution, in 
wheat and corn fields, of chinch bugs dead with disease and 
bearing the characteristic fungus in a fruiting condition. One 
such experiment was made on the University Experiment Sta- 
tion farm, at Champaign, and others were set on foot at several 
points in southern Illinois, each being followed up by repeated 
visits made to ascertain the result. One and all of these per- 
sonally conducted field experiments failed absolutely, no ap- 
