The head and thorax are black, entire surface except the wings minutely hairy, the wing-covers are milk white, with a triangular black scutellum between them in front, the whitish area giving it roughly the form of the letter X.

The first winged specimens were obtained August 11th, giving a life cycle of 54 days. Both species are single brooded, hibernating in the adult form. The long-winged form differs from the short-winged type in that when most of them have acquired wings flights of the adults occur, resulting in their dispersal through the fields, and these flights were first observed Sept. 5th and succeeding fine days. Habits. The eggs are usually deposited on the leaf-sheath or ligule, but sometimes underground, on the finer roots. The newly-hatched larvæ for about the first week of their existence feed on the tender roots below the surface, and usually out of sight. They may so feed for a month, for I have taken specimens very delicate in body and color, with the wing pads partly developed, and on exposure to light they would turn nearly black, almost immediately, but this must be regarded as exceptional. They seek the higher and drier portions of a field, for a wet location is detrimental to Chinch Bug progress. Hence it is the poorer condition a field is in the more liable it is to serious injury, as where the growth is rank, or the crop in good health, little injury will result.

Food Plants. The principal plants which have suffered most are the meadow grasses generally; particularly is this true of timothy. Wheat, corn, and oats have been very slightly injured, and in no case except where such a field was adjacent to a meadow or pasture. This does not mean that they prefer the meadow grasses to other crops, but simply that grain crops have been very scarce, and the succulent nature of the grasses all through the summer has not caused them to migrate in search of food.

Area of Infestation. The infested area covers about 5 square miles, embracing altogether about 1,800 acres of pasture and hay land. These are what may be termed grass farms, where the greater part of the land is always in sod. On the other hand, where a regular system of rotation has been followed, and the land ploughed up every three or four years, Chinch Bugs were very scarce, except in a small woodland pasture, which was not deemed advisable to cultivate. Under the present system of grass farming, Chinch Bug injury is likely to be on the increase, unless we should be favoured with an open winter, or a wet summer, as heavy rains at hatching time are disastrous to Chinch Bug progress. Such a season as we have experienced this year has materially reduced their numbers. Wet weather at hatching time was a severe check to undue increase, and this was followed later on in the season, in September, by the appearance of the white fungus Sporotrichum globuliferum, which killed about 25 per cent. at least.

The White Fungus. Inasmuch as the fungus is dependent upon suitable meteorological conditions for its growth, it is sufficient to place it in the second or third place as a suitable remedy for Chinch Bug extinction. In the latter part of May I attempted to reproduce this fungus artificially. I am indebted to Mr. P. A. Glenn, of the Illinois Experiment Station, for a pure culture of this fungus. Suitable tight boxes were taken, approximately 2 ft. long, 1 ft. wide and 14 in. high. Into these boxes soil direct from the field was introduced. In one box the spores of the fungus were introduced and thoroughly mixed with the soil, while the other was used as a check. It must be borne in mind that neither soil nor boxes were sterilized. Two to three inches of soil was placed in the boxes, thoroughly moistened and about half a pint of bugs introduced to each box, and fresh food was

introduced as often as necessary. It is not necessary to cover the box, a broad, heavy chalk line near the top of the box is sufficient to impede their migration. In the infected box the first diseased specimens appeared six days after introduction, seven specimens being found, all mature and probably "spent" bugs. No other specimens were obtained until 14 days after introduction, when 16 specimens were found to be diseased. The experiment was carried on for a month, with no other appearance of diseased bugs. In the uninfected box, not one diseased specimen was obtained. Through the whole month the weather was extremely cool, and this can be the only reason why the experiment was not a greater success.

Remedies. As the Chinch Bug hibernates under rail fences, tree trunks, tufted grasses, leaves, and rubbish of all descriptions, the advantage of what may be termed clean farming, and regular rotation is at once suggested. As far as practicable burn over all waste places in the fall as late as possible, so as to expose them to the rigours of the winter. To be effective, the burning must be done thoroughly, otherwise little or no good will result.

As most of the meadows infested are adjacent to woodlots in which the greater part of the bugs hibernate, it seems reasonable to believe that if a strip of land next the woodlot was ploughed in the early fall, and planted to wheat, it would serve as an excellent bait crop for the bugs coming out of their winter quarters. An inviting food would be at first hand, the eggs would be deposited on the wheat plants, where they could be promptly destroyed, bugs and all, by efficient ploughing and immediately rolling the ground.

To eliminate the Chinch Bug from a badly infested meadow is practically an impossibility, and, where the injury has been severe, the only recourse is to fall plough the land and plant the same to a hoe or leguminous crop.

Should the bugs be numerous in a wheat or oat field, they may be trapped as follows: Previous to the harvesting of the grain, a swath should be cut around the infested field, and a space cleared with a hoe about 1 ft. wide. Post holes should then be dug about 12 in. to 16 in. deep, and about 30 ft. to 35 ft. apart. As soon as harvest starts a thin line of No. 7 asphalt road oil should then be poured on the clear surface, touching the outside surface of the holes. As harvesting proceeds and the bugs are threatened with starvation they will eommence to migrate from all parts of the field. As soon as they encounter the asphalt barrier they will be forced by sheer numbers into the post-holes, when they may be promptly destroye} by pouring in a little kerosene. To cite an instance of the efficiency of this method, it may be stated that last year with 11⁄2 barrels of oil round a 10-acre field of badly infested wheat, three bushels of Chinch Bugs were collected in eight days in a field close to Carbondale, Illinois. When a corn field is adjacent to a pasture or hay field, where the bugs are somewhat numerous and migrating on to the field of corn, they may be killed by spraying the corn with a ten per cent. solution of kerosene.

A little caution is necessary in using this substance. Do not pour the solution into the heart of the plant, and spray preferably early in the morning or late in the afternoon, otherwise the foliage may be burned. Unless the corn is vigorous, the kerosene emulsion is not recommended, but in its place use the following mixture, which is absolutely safe, but slightly more expensive.

2 ozs. soft soap.

1⁄2 oz. black leaf 40 (40 per cent. nicotine).

1 gallon soft water.

Heat the water to near boiling, thoroughly dissolving the soap, then add the nicotine solution.

As the bugs injure the plant by sucking its sap, each bug must be hit by the spray before it will succumb.

EVENING SESSION.

TUESDAY, Nov. 19TH, 1912.

A public meeting was held at 8.15 o'clock p.m. in the Normal School, which was well attended by many visitors from the city as well as members of the society. The meeting was opened by the Hon. Martin Burrell, Minister of Agriculture, whose entertaining and humorous address was much enjoyed by those present. He introduced the speaker of the evening, Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, who was recently appointed to the staff of the Division of Entomology, as Chief Assistant in Apiculture, in which subject he is a leading authority. The subject of his address, "Bumble-bees and Their Ways," is one to which Mr. Sladen has devoted many years of careful study. The lecture was illustrated by many beautiful lanternslides and was most interesting and instructive.

BUMBLE-BEES AND THEIR WAYS.

F. W. L. SLADEN, ASSISTANT ENTOMOLOGIST FOR APICULTURE, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, OTTAWA.

We have heard much of the wonderful instinct and industry of the honey-bee. But little has been told of the bumble-bee, the honey-bee's nearest relative in the temperate zone, and the only bee that shares with it the important distinction of living in communities. And yet, as I hope to show this evening, the bumble-bee is a most interesting and intelligent insect. We have not been fair to the bumblebees. It is partly on account of its usefulness in supplying honey and wax that the honey-bee has attracted so much of our attention, and the result has been that we have neglected our beautiful bumble-bees. Our neglect of the bumble-bee is the less defensible because it, too, is a very useful insect in an indirect way. A great number of plants bearing long-tubed flowers, including that most valuable fodder plant, the red clover, depend for their existence on the bumble-bee, for it alone visits these flowers to any extent and fertilizes them, no other bees having tongues long enough to reach the nectar in them. In consequence of the absence of bumblebees in New Zealand the farmers there were unable to get their clover to produce seed in any quantity. Bumble-bees were, therefore, imported from England in 1884, and two species, Bombus terrestris and B. ruderatus, were immediately ac climatised. As soon as these became plentiful the clover produced an abundant crop of seed, and has been doing so ever since.

Students of the honey-bee ought to be specially interested in the bumble-bee, for in many respects it shows an organization and civilization leading up to that of the honey-bee, vet, and here is an interesting point, it is not midway between the solitary bees and the honey-bee, but has developed on its own lines, and in its own. particular sphere is as perfect as the honey-bee is perfect in its domain.

In the bumble-bee, as in the honey-bee, the female sex has two forms, a reproductive form called the queen and an industrious form called the worker. The queen is larger than the worker.

Each colony contains one old queen which is the mother of the workers, of which the major part of the population is composed. In the honey-bee the queen is much more differentiated from the worker than in the bumble-bee. The honeybee queen is little else than a machine for laying eggs in enormous numbers. She cannot gather food and is even unable to feed herself adequately. She is extremely helpless and is always surrounded by the workers, who minister to her every want, for, left alone, she would die. Her young are cared for by the workers. She takes no part in feeding and nursing them. Her sting has lost its use as a weapon except for combating rival queens.

But the bumble-bee queen is a much less specialized and more capable insect. She has not sacrificed her instincts of industry, self-preservation, and affection and care of her young to the god of reproduction like the honey-bee queen. Indeed, the role she has to to play as the foundress of a large establishment containing a quantity of juicy maggots, pollen, and honey, attractive food for a host of animals ranging from mammals, such as badgers, weasels and shrews down to insects and mites, some of which exist solely as parasites on the bumble-bee and her brood, has sharpened her wits and we find her far more intelligent, industrious, and attentive to her brood than any other bee, if not any other insect. In fact, the care she bestows on her young is comparable with that shown by birds and mammals.

Let us trace briefly the life history of a queen bumble-bee. It is no long monotony, but is divided into stages, in each of which different instincts are brought into play.

The males and queens are reared towards the end of summer when the colony is at the height of prosperity. The first important event in the queen's life is her marriage, and this is preceded by a short courtship. The males hover around trees and banks, pausing in certain places to emit a fragrant scent like the odour of flowers. It seems very probable that the queens are attracted to these spots by their fragrance, at any rate they meet their mates, and each pair flies away to enjoy a brief honeymoon. The male, small and insignificant as he is, then ceases to be useful and soon dies, and the queen immediately enters on the second stage of her career, which is to find a hibernacle in which to pass her long winter sleep. In England several of the common species burrow into the ground. The queen chooses a slope facing north or north-west, consisting of a well-drained and friable soil and buries herself to a depth of about two inches, seldom more. It is evidently damp and not cold that she seeks to avoid. Indeed, the northern aspect shows that she prefers a chilly site, and one may guess that the reason is that she does not wish to be disturbed by the sun's rays too early in the spring before plenty of flowers are out and continuous warm weather may be expected. Other species find sufficient protection in out-buildings and under subbish heaps. Possibly in the severer climate of Canada the burrowing queens go deeper into the ground. As soon as the queen has settled herself in her winter quarters she falls into a torpor, which as the cold increases grows deeper and she lies like one dead. The dark and cheerless months pass and in April-some species wait till May and even June she awakes and quits her grave. Keeping herself active and warm with the nectar she sucks from the willow-catkins, maples, and other flowers, she soon looks for a place in which to establish a colony. In England this is almost always a nest that has been made and afterwards vacated by field-mice, voles, or

other small mammals. Some of the species of bumble-bees select a nest situated in thick grass. Others, and these comprise the larger number, prefer to live underground with a long and winding tunnel leading to the nest. Occasionally a bird's nest in a hollow tree is chosen, and a nest between the double walls of an outbuilding meets the taste of some species. I once found a nest in an old shoe and another in a rusty kettle lying on a rubbish heap overgrown with weeds.

The queen teases the material in the centre of the nest with her legs and this makes it very soft and dry. Then she crawls into the middle of it and tramps it down, forming a warm and cozy cavity. Here she accumulates a lump of pollen about the size of a pea, and on this lump she lays her first batch of eggs which number about a dozen. The eggs are laid in a little cell of wax which is constructed on the top of the pollen, and after they have been laid the cell is sealed over with wax.

The process of pollen collecting is very interesting. The pollen dust gathers in the long body hairs with which all bumble-bees are densely clothed, and it is brushed out of these by the middle legs and conveyed to the mouth where it is inoistened with honey. The moistened pollen is then transferred to a particular spot on the bristly inner side of one of the joints of the hind leg called the metatarsus or planta. This is really the first joint of the foot. The next joint above the metatarsus, namely the tibia, is provided at the end on the inner side with a comb which is used to scrape the moistened pollen off the metatarsus of the opposite leg into a receptacle at the end of the tibia. When the leg is straightened a projection on the base of the metatarsus enters the receptacle and pushes the pollen out of it on to the outer side of the tibia. As the result of many such contributions the well-known pellet of pollen is formed on the outer side of the tibia, and it is held in by a wall of stiff hairs surrounding it and acting like the stakes that farmer places around his wagon when he desires to carry hay. Two or three stiff hairs stand in the entrance to the pollen basket. The object of these seems to be to form a means of attachment for the pollen before a sufficient quantity has accumulated to be held by hairs at the sides.

In the honey-bee the pollen collecting apparatus on the hind legs is essentially the same, but it is more specialized. The moistened pollen is spread over the whole of the inner side of the metatarsus, the bristles there being arranged in ten transverse rows, and they hold the pollen in greater quantity, while the comb on the end of the tibia used for scraping it out of them is a very efficient instrument. Its efficiency is enhanced by the fact there are no spurs on the end of the tibia in the honey-bee, though these are present in the bumble-bee and all the solitary bees and are useful to these in performing their toilet.

It was formerly believed that a bee hardly ever visited more than one species of flower on the same journey, but careful observers.have found that under certain conditions changing from one species to another is not rare, and this has been proved by the presence of variegated loads of pollen. Bumble-bees are more inclined to change from one species of flower to another than honey-bees. This is especially true in the case of the common European species Bombus terrestris, which is closely related to the Canadian species B. terricola. In a nest of B. terrestris that I kept under observation in July this year, 40 per cent. of the workers returned home with variegated loads. In order to discover exactly how the pollen basket is loaded I took sections of a number of the variegated loads collected by the workers in this nest. In one of the most interesting of these, no less than eight successive kinds of pollen were distinguishable. The sections showed clearly