MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Number 184 LIBR ' RY August, 1929

STATE PLANT DO ARE) - =

TRUCK CROP INSECTS
J. E. Graf, in Charge

N. F. Howard, Columbus, Ohio, in company with Rodney Cecil (Gen-
eva, N. Y.), L. W. Brannon (Norfolk, Va. ) and P. D, Sanders and W. T.
Henery (University of Maryland, College Park), made an inspection of the
bean fields on the Eastern Shore of Maryland on August 12 to 15, to ob-
serve the results that the commercial growers are obtaining in the control
of the Mexican bean beetle.

N. F. Howard visited Estancia, N. M. , August 19, where he con-
ferred with J. R. Douglass regarding investigations of the Mexican bean
oeetle in the West. From Estancia he went to Alhambra, Calif., where,
m company with R, E. Campbell, in charge of the field laboratory there,
he made a survey of bean growing.

M. C. Lane, in charge of the field laboratory at Walla Walla,
Wash., attended a conference of the Governors of the Western States
at Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 26 and 27, where he delivered a talk
on wireworms as pests on the irrigated lands of the West.

R. A. Fulton has been appointed Agent, to undertake chemical
studies on the sugar-beet leafhopper at Twin Falls, Idaho.

H. P. Lanchester has been appointed Junior Entomologist and as-
signed to work on wireworm investigations at Parma, Idaho.

C. F. Stahl has been reinstated as Entomologist and assigned to
work on the problem of the strawberry root aphid at Chadbourn, N. C.

C. T. McCoy, F. A. Haasis, and C. E. Post have been appointed
temporary field assistants for duty at Twin Falls, Idaho, Berkeley,
Calif., and Las Cruces, N. M., respectively.

A. J. Salle has been appointed temporary agent and assigned to
work at Berkeley, Calif. , in connection with investigations of the sugar-
beet leafhopper.

H. E. Wallace has been transferred from Twin Falls, Idaho, to
Riverside, Calif., where he will inaugurate work on the sugar-beet leaf-
nopper .

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b£E CULTURE

Jas. I. Kambletcn, in Charge

E. L, Sechrist left Washington on July 15 for an extended trip
throughout the Intermountain States, where he will check up the work
dene by the various cooperators who are assisting in the study of the
cost of honey production. The results of this work have been very grati-
fying. Later in the fall R. S. Kifer, of the Bureau of Agricultural
Economics, which is cooperating in these studies, will make the final
visit to all cooperators. At the completion of this year's work in the
Intermcuntain States a similar study will be begun in the white-clover
region, and the work in the two regions will be carried on simultaneously
for a number of years. En route to Washington, Mr. Sechrist will judge
the bee and honey exhibit of the Wisconsin State Fair, at Milwaukee,

On June 11 Dr. E. F. Phillips, formerly Senior Apiculturist in
charge of the Division of Bee Culture Investigations, was given the
honorary degree of Doctor of Science by his Alma Mater, Allegheny College,
Meadvilie, Pa.

Dr. H. E. Earnard, President of the American Honey Institute,
visited the Bee Culture Laboiatory on August 2, to discuss with members
of the staff various problems in which the Honey Institute is interested.

J. E. Eckert, of the Intermountain Bee Culture Field Laboratory,
Laramie, Wyo., has completed the summer's work on the flight range of
the honeybee, which he has been conducting at Powell, Wyo.

Dr. Warren Whitcomb, Jr., of the Southern States Bee Culture
Field Laboratory, Eaton Rouge, La., attended the meeting of the Texas
State Beekeepers' Association, College Station, Tex., on July 29 to 30.
In conjunction with this meeting. Doctor Whitcomb also attended the meet-
ing of the Texas Association of Queenbreeders and Bee Dealers.

Dr. Warren Whitcomb, Jr., and Dr. E. Oertel, of the Southern
States Bee Culture Field Laboratory, appeared on the program of the meet-
ing of the Louisiana State Beekeepers' Association, held at Eaton Rouge
on August 7 and 8. This meeting was held in connection with Farmers'
Week at the College of Agriculture of Louisiana State University.

W. J. Nolan, while on annual leave, attended the meetings of the
Apis Club held in Berlin, Germany, August 9 to 12. He reports that it
was one of the best meetings ever held by the Apis Club, with practically
all of the prominent beekeeping investigators of Europe in attendance.
Representatives from 21 countries were present.

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W. J. Nolan judged the bee and honey exhibit at the Ohio State
Fair, at Columbus, on August 26 and 27. The display was unusually fine,
as the honey crop was the best in several years.

Dr. W. W. Alpatov, of the University of Moscow, who has been
studying in this country for the past two years as a Research Fellow of
the International Education Board, has recently returned to Russia. On
numerous occasions Doctor Alpatov consulted with the members of the staff
of the Bee Culture Laboratory concerning his researches on the biometrics
of the honeybee. He will continue his investigations in Russia.

Jas. I. Hambleton appeared on the program of the Vermont State
Beekeepers' Association at their annual meeting held at Barre, Vt., on
August 30. The Association signified its willingness to compile a list
of all beekeepers in the State of Vermont. This list will be available
in checking the returns of enumerators in the 1930 census, when every
effort will be made to compile reliable statistics on bees and honey.

E, J. Hambleton, of Cornell University, visited the Bee Culture
Laboratory on August 27, en route to the State of Minas Geraes, Brazil,
where he will organize and conduct courses in entomology and apiculture
at the Escola Superior de Agricultura e Veterinaria, at Vigosa.

Through the intermediary of the Brazilian Ambassador and the
Secretary of State of the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture
was requested to suggest the name of a specialist capable of locating,
organizing, and conducting an agricultural college on the "United States
plan." Dr. P. H. Rolfs, formerly Director of the Agricultural Experiment
Station and Dean of the Florida State College of Agriculture, was selected
for this important mission. During the 11 years in which Doctor Rolfs has
been administrative head of the college it has made great progress, and
in the year about to begin special courses in entomology, apiculture,
animal husbandry, and plant pathology are to be organized.

Mrs. Richardson and Miss Theresa Dansdell, vrho are assisting Dr.
H. E. Barnard, President of the American Honey Institute, in his work of
organizing the White House Conference on Child Health, of which he is
the executive secretary, visited the Bee Culture Laboratory on August 23
to study the system used by the Laboratory in cataloging beekeeping
literature .

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FOREST INSECTS
F. C. Craighead, in Charge

Dr. Craighead returned about the middle of August from a trip
of inspection of the western field laboratories. About 10 days were
spent in Idaho and Montana, and a similar length of time in northeastern
California.

L. G. Baumhofer reports that a large number of Campoplex in-
dividuals have been reared and introduced into more remote regions of
the Halsey, Nebr., plantations, where the tip moth is abundant. Campo-
plex is an eastern parasite of the tip moth; it has been successfully
established in these plantations at Halsey, and is doing very effective
work.

R. A. St. George reports from Asheville, N. C., that the southern
pine beetle has been particularly abundant this year. The dry season
has apparently been favorable to it, and local outbreaks have occurred
in many places from Virginia south through the Piedmont region.

nr. T E. Snyder left Washington August 28 for Berkeley, Calif.,
to consult with Dr. S. F. Light, of the Termite Investigations Committee
of the University of California, and Dr. A. E. Emerson, of the University
of Chicago. From September 1 to September 14 conferences are to be held
to discuss the fundamental principles of termite control. Dr. Snyder
is expected to return to Washington about September 20.

Contributions from the Gipsy-Moth Laboratory

In the last News Letter it was reported that C. W. Collins was
seriously ill. At the present time his condition is slightly improved,
but he «.s still in the hospital in a critical condition.

Dr. Craighead, and Dr. H. J. MacAloney, in charge of the field
laboratory at Amherst, Mass., were at the Gipsy Moth Laboratory on August
27 and 28. Dr. Craighead discussed the Laboratory projects with various
members of the staff.

Dr. Alvah Peterson, Professor of Entomology at Ohio State Uni-
versity, spent August 6 and 7 at the Gipsy Moth Laboratory, acquiring
information as to the parasite work being done there.

Other visitors at the Gipsy Moth Laboratory in August included
K. A. Bartlett, of the corn-borer field laboratory at Arlington, Mass.,
August 26, and W. A. Osgood, engaged in work on moths for the New Hamp-
shire Department of Agriculture, and C. C. Plummer, of the entomological
department of the University of New Hampshire, August 29.

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INSECTS AFFECTING MAN AND ANIMALS
F. C. Bishopp, in Charge

H. Bennett Johnston, of the Wellcome Laboratories, Khartoum,
Sudan, visited Washington August 12. Fart of his time was spent with
F. C. Bishopp, discussing the work of the Bureau on cotton insects, es-
pecially with reference to the character and type of injury to cottcn
produced bv plant bugs, and discussing the situation in Khartoum regard-
ing parasites of the pink bollworm.

G. W. Bruce aided in the handling and demonstration of the De-
partment Exhibit at the Illinois State Fair at Springfield, August 17
to 24.

During the greater part of August 0. G. Eabcock carried on a sur-
vey of pests of livestock and poultry in western Texas, Colorado, and
New Mexico.

On August 9 F. C. Bishopp took Major P. R. Hawley, M. C. U. S.
Army, and Dr. Siribaed Bisuddhi, of Siam, to the Marine Station at Quan™
tico to look over the operations there on control of mosquitoes. Captain
R. G. Heine r, M. C. IJ. S. Navy, very kindly arranged for a special demon-
stration of airplane dusting of a swamp area. This treatment is carried
out as a routine procedure in the antianopheline work under way on the
Quantico reservation. Major Hawley is in charge of the sanitary work of
the survey for a Nicaraguan canal, which the Army was recently authorized
to carry out.

G. H. Bradley made a trip to Portland, Qreg., August 10 to 20,
to conduct an inquiry into the mosquito situation along the Columbia
River.

D. G. Hall, of Coachella, Calif., spent the greater part of August
at the field laboratory at Uvalde, Tex. While there he devoted some time
to a study of the large collection of sarcophagids captured in the trap-
ping experiments which E. W. Laake and E. C. Cushing are carrying on in
Menard County, Tex.

INSECT PEST SURVEY
J. A. Hyslop, in Charge

On Tuesday, August 6, Dr. Marlatt gave a 15-minute talk over
%he radio entitled "Insect War." During the last week in July and early
in August the followig entomological subjects we re treated in connection
with the radio program listed under "Farm and Garden Calendar": Fleas,
the stable fly or biting house fly, the corn ear worm as a pest of cotton,
the Mexican bean beetle, mosquitoes, and aphids on turnips, kale, and
cabbage .

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DECIDUOUS FRUIT INSECTS
A. L. Quaintance, in Charge

H. G. Butler, Assistant Entomologist, who is associated with
Dr. P. M. Gilmer in investigations of apple insects at Wichita, Kans.,
attended the sixth annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference of
Entomologists, held at Pinegree Park, Colo., August 19 to 24.

0. I. Snapp, Entomologist in charge of the field laboratory at
Fort Valley, Ga. , for the study of peach insects, visited Washington
during the week of August 20 to discuss plans of work for the coming
season. He will shortly return to Fort Valley.

Contributions from the Japanese-Beetle Laboratory

On August 8 H. K. Plank, of Cuba, and Dr. T. L. Guyton, of Harris-
burg, Pa. , visited the Laboratory to confer with members of the parasite
division concerning biological control.

On August 26 seventeen members of the Philadelphia Horticultural
Society visited the Laboratory. The work of the three major divisions
of it was explained to them, E. R. Van Leeuwen telling them about beetle
insecticides, J K. Holloway about parasites, and Max Osburn about soil
insecticides .

On August 26, also. Dr. Shiro Tashiro, Professor of Biochemistry,
University of Cincinnati, Ohio, visited the Laboratory.

On August 28, E. J. Hambleton, of the School of Agriculture,
Vigosa, Minas Geraes, Brazil, spent the afternoon at the Laboratory.

George Edward Spencer, Associate Entomologist engaged in physio-
logical work at the Japanese-Beetle Laboratory, died August 29, shortly
after an operation for cancer of the stomach. Mr. Spencer had been as-
sociated with the work of this laboratory for the last seven years. He
is survived by a wife and three young children.

The Oriental Peach Moth Laboratory at Moorestown, N. J., is co-
operating with the field laboratory at Vincennes, Ind., and the State
entomological services of Indiana and Connecticut, in making experimental
liberations of Macrocentrus ancyllvora in peach districts newly infested
with the oriental peach moth. Over 3,000 adult parasites have been
shipped to these points, and have arrived at their destination in good
condition, with low mortality in transit.

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From parasite-infested material collected from the Oriental Peach
Moth Laboratory at Moorestown in June, Prof. J. J. Davis, of Purdue
University, reports that 500 Macrocentrus ancylivora were obtained for
liberations in orchards in Indiana, and that 22 per cent parasitism of
this species has already been obtained in collections made for recovery
of the parasite.

Dr. Philip Carman, of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment
Station, spent several days late in July collecting strawberry leaf-
roller larvae at the Moorestown Laboratory. He obtained 7,000 heavily
parasitized larvae, and hopes to get a heavy emergence of Macrocentrus
ancylivora for liberation in orchards in Connecticut.

Dr. H. W. Allen and A. C. Hcdson, who have been investigating
the influence of parasitism on infestation by the oriental peach moth in
New Jersey, have found the parasitism of twig-infesting larvae to have
been very high, in some collections reaching 100 per cent. The infesta-
tion of fruit up to August 25 had not exceeded 11 per cent, including
both visible and invisible injury, for any variety.

TAXONOMY

Harold Morrison, in Charge

J. D. Sherman, Jr., of Mt. Vernon, N. Y., and his daughter visited
the Division of Insects, August 6 and 7, on business relating to the pur-
chase of various books from the estate of H. G. Dyar.

H. K. Plank, of the Tropical Plant Research Foundation, Central
Baragua, Baragua, Camaguey Province, Cuba, consulted with several of the
specialists in the Taxonomic Unit on August 6 and 7.

H. Bennett Johnston, of the Gezira Research Farm, Wad Medani,
-Judan, Africa, called at the Museum A.ugust 12 to consult with the bureau
specialists A. B. Gahan and A. N. Caudell,

Dr. T. B. Mitchell, of the department of zoology and entomology.
North Carolina State College, at Raleigh, came to Washington August 1
and 21 to examine certain types of bees of the genus Megachile in the
National collection. He has in progress a revision of the North American
species of this genus.

H. G. Earber, of Roselle Park, N. J., spent several days in the
early part of August working on Hemiptera in the Museum collections.

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Dr. J. M. Aldrich, of the staff of the U. S. National Museum,
returned to Washington on August 23, after spending three months in
Europe on entomological work. In the course of his trip Dr. Aldrich
examined type specimens of many flies in various museums, including
the British Museum and the museums in Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Paris,
and in private collections, including those of Collins in England, Lund-
beck in Denmark, and Villeneuve near Paris.

H. S. Barber, of the Bureau staff, spent much of August sorting
out specimens of insects at the Brooklyn Museum, including many types
which are being brought to Washington. These are to be associated with
the National Museum collections, where they will be available to the
Bureau taxonomic specialists and other wo rkers .

COTTON INSECTS
B. R. Coad, in Charge

On August 29 B. R. Coad and J. M. Yeates left Tallulah, La.,
for the West. Mr. Coad will spend considerable time looking over the
investigational work on the pink bollworm in western Texas and Old Mexico,
and on the Thurberia weevil in Arizona.

Professor T. H. Hubbell, of the University of Florida, visited the
field laboratory at Tallulah on August 18.

In August the temporary appointments as field assistants of B. A.
Moers, W. H. Rumff, 0. H. Graham, R. P. Patty and J. C. Sherwin were
terminated. Temporary appointments as field assistants have recently
been given Edward Smith, J. F. Cooper, and C, C. Kimberlin, Jr,

CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS
W. H. Larrimer, in Charge

George G, Ainslie, Collaborator, formerly of the field laboratory
at Knoxville, Tenn., spent August 27 to 31 at the Washington office, in
conference and in preparation of manuscript.

Ralph Mathes has accepted an appointment as Junior Entomologist,
for duty at the Monroe, Mich., corn borer laboratory, effective August 5.

W. H. Larrimer spent August 28 to 31 at the field laboratory at
Lafayette, Ind. , in consultation with C. M. Packard and Prof. J. J. Davis
regarding a manuscript on the Hessian fly in the State of Indiana.

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LIBFARY

Mabel Colcord, Librarian
NEW BOOKS

Abot Gustave .

Catalogue des Coleopteres observes dans de Departement de Maine-
et-Lcire. 386 p. Faris, Paul Lechevalier, 1928.

Assmuss, Eduard.

Die Parasiten der Honigbiene und die durch dieselben bedingtea
Krankheiten dieses Insects . . . 86 p., 3 pi. Berlin, Ernst Schotte
& Co., 1865.

Fauna van Nederland Afl. II. Homoptera (QXXI) A. Jassidae, Membracidae.

By H. C. Blote, 143 p., illus. Leiden, A. W. Sijthoffs, 1927.
Fauna van Nederland Afl. IV. Hymenoptera anthophila (QXIIIjn) A. A-drena.

By J. van der Vecht. 144 p., illus. Leiden, A. W. Sijthoffs, 1928.
Faust, E. C.

Human helminthology: A manual for clinicians, sanitarians a d

medical zoologists. 616 p., illus. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger,
1929.

Crete, A. R., and Robinson, C. T

List of Lepidoptera of North America. XVI p. Philadelphia, Ameri-
can Entomological Society, 1868,

Handschin, Eduard.

Praktische Einfuhrung in die Morphologie der Insekten . . . (mit
einem Atlas von 23 Tafeln) . 112 p. Berlin, Geb ruder Bcrntraeger,

1928.

International corn borer investigations. Scientific reports, v. 2.
The first international corn borer conference at the Fasteur In-
stitute, April 25-27, 1929. Edited by Tage Ellinger. 21 p. Chi-
cago, International Live Stock Exposition, Union Stock Yaids, 1929.
Jarvis. Edmund.

Some notes or. the economy of cockchafer beetles. 49 p. (incl.
6 pi.}. Brisbane, Anthony James Comming, Govt. Printer, 1929.
(Queensland Eureau of Sugar Expt. Sta. Div. of Ent. Bui. No. 20.)
Johnson, M. E., and Snock, H. J.

Seashore animals of the Pacific Coast. 652 p,, illus. New York,
Macmillan, 1927.

Jordan, D. S.

Manual of the vertebrate animals of the northeastern United States,
inclusive of marine species. Ed. 13. 446 p. Yonkers-on-Hidson,
N. Y., World Book Co., 1929.

Lang, Hugo.

Lang's German-English dictionary of terms used in medicine and
the allied sciences. Ed. 3, enlarged. 613 p. Philadelphia, Blak-
iston, [cl924].

Lewis, G. C., comp.

How to market honey. Ed. 2. 40 p., illus. Watertown, Wis., Jansky
Printing Co., 1926.

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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

3 1262 09236 6599

Lubbock, John.

Ants, bees and wasps, new edition based on seventeenth, edited
and annotated by J. G. Myers. 377 p., 6 pi . (4 col.). New York,
Dutton, 1929.

Meigen, J. W.

Systematische Beschreibung der europaischen Schmetterlinge . . .
276 p. , 125 pi. Aachen und Leipzig, J. U. Mayer, 1829.

Mellen, Ida.

Roof gardening. 115 p, , illus. New York, A. T. de La Mare Co..
1929. (Chapter II, Insects and diseases, p. 33-36.)

Merian, M. S,'

Der rupsen begin, voedzel en wonderbaare verandering. 3 v. in 1,
150 pi. Amsterdam , Gerard Valk, 1678.

Paterson, J. W.

Nature in farming. Ed. 3. 226 p., illus. Perth, F. M. Simpson,

Govt. Printer, 1929. (Chapter 39, Insects and their attacks.)
Porter, G. S.

Moths of the Limberlost. 370 p., illus. Garden City, N. Y., Double-
day, Page & Co., 1912.

Robertson, Charles.

Flowers and insects. Lists of visitors of four hundred and fifty-
three flowers. 221 p. Carlinville, 111., 1928. [cl929. ]

Schif fermueller, Ignaz, and Denis, J. N. C. M.

Systematische Verzeichniss der Schmetterlinge der Wienergegend . . .
322 p. , 1 col. pi. Wien, Bernardi, 1776.

Societe Royale Entomologique d'Egypte. Bulletin n. s. Annee 1928, v. 12.

98 p. , 24 pi. Le Caire, P. Barbey, 1929.

Sudan Government. Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories. Report of
the Government Entomologist [H. H. King] for the year 1927. 7 p.

1928. (Entomological Section. Bui. No. 25.)