47O ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Dec., 'l^ 



Emergency Entomological Service. 



Numbers 6 and 7 of these Reports, similar to the earlier issues men- 

 tioned in the NEWS (c. g. Oct., 1917, page 375), dated Oct. i and 

 Nov. i, contain descriptions of the clean-up operations at Hearne, 

 Texas, to exterminate the pink boll worm (Pectinophora gossypiella}, 

 presumably introduced with cotton seed from the Laguna district of 

 Mexico. This pest was found in two fields near Hearne. Federal 

 and State appropriations render it possible to establish a cotton-free 

 zone as rapidly as the need of such a zone can be shown. 



The present year has been one of the lightest boll weevil years since 

 the pest entered the country. The first record of this species in 

 South Carolina is given and data on the northern line of dispersion 

 in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia; a 

 complete statement of the infested territory, together with a map. 

 is promised as soon as all the data have been received and compiled. 



In California cotton has suffered materially from the activity c f 

 three sucking bugs, Euschistus impictiventris, Chlorochroa sayi and 

 the tarnished bug, Lygus pratensis, which puncture the carpels and 

 the green seed, resulting in complete destruction of the embryo, serious 

 discoloration of the lint and premature opening of the bolls. 



The State of Florida has issued a quarantine against sweet potatoes 

 infested by the weevil Cyclas formicarins which occurs only in a few 

 counties but is gradually gaining ground. The Federal Horticultural 

 Board has under consideration a quarantine against sweet potatoes 

 and yams from all foreign countries and from Hawaii and Porto 

 Rico in view of the widespread ravages of this species and of the 

 weevil Euscepes batatae. 



Extension work in Entomology is being planned in States as far 

 apart as Arizona and New Hampshire; this aims to give demonstra- 

 tions at many places of the measures necessary to check or forestall 

 insect ravages. 



Numerous reports of injury to stored corn and wheat indicate that 

 the more common grain weevils will be unusually prevalent during 

 the coming winter. 



The Bureau of Entomology's work is revealing the great economic 

 importance of North American termites as destroyers of timber. 



There are the usual reports on many spieces of injurious insects 

 from II states in No. 6 and 22 states and territories in No. 7. We 

 quote from one of these by Mr. A. L. Melander in No. 6: "I have 

 just [September i8th] returned from an extended scouting trip which 

 began about the middle of June. During the summer we have covered 

 nearly 4000 miles, practically all in Washington, and over 3300 have 

 been done by the little automobile. ... In the State of Wash- 

 ington, [the weevil] Otiorhynchus oratits extends from north to 

 south along a strip east of Puget Sound, invading the islands and 



