THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 297 



Some of the plants upon which it had bestowed its attention were 

 later ripped from the trees by natives with long, sharp knives, 

 and in the course of time finally came to grace the conservatory 

 of a person whose aesthetic taste demanded orchids. It was 

 only a question of time before Cholus made her appearance and 

 started to feed on the scenery in that conservatory. It appears 

 that she had smuggled either herself or her young along with the 

 plants, undoubtedly in the tissue, which the inspector cpuld not 

 examine without destroying the plant, and in that way arrived 

 safely at her destination. 



Of course, the tropical atmosphere of a greenhouse does not 

 approach that of her natural home but it is a fair substitute, and 

 she can be contented provided the owner does not devote his at- 

 tention to her extermination. 



The foregoing cases, and it would be possible to cite numerous 

 other ones, show how the insect fauna of New Jersey and other 

 States is constantly being added to by undesirables from other 

 countries. This immigration is taking place in spite of well- 

 developed and well-enforced systems, of inspection. ^ The estab- 

 lishment of foreign pests in the United States is not always due to 

 a laxity in the inspection service of any state. In most cases, the 

 pests have entered undetected by the inspector, sometimes through 

 his ignorance of foreign pests, sometimes on account of individual 

 carelessness, but mostly on account of the impossibility of ex- 

 amining every leaf, twig, root and particle of soil around the 

 roots of a plant and having anything left that will grow, especially 

 when an inspector is called upon to examine hundreds of plants 

 each day. 



In other words, ordinary inspection will not keep out all 

 foreign pests, and extraordinary inspection would not be tolerated 

 by importing firms or paid for by state governments. The in- 

 spection does, however, prevent an overwhelming rush of such 

 pests; it does hold and delay the spread of them at times until 

 means of controlling them have been found or until they are no 

 longer dangerous, and it has in the past served the country well; 

 but it is useless to expect more from inspection however well 

 carried out it mav be. 



