BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 521 



The work on the cigarette beetle, an important pest in tobacco 

 warehouses, mentioned in the last report, was continued. Considera- 

 tion has been given to fumigation with different gases at different 

 temperatures, and an effort was made toward devising a new form 

 of package for tobacco that would prevent the entrance of the pest. 



SUGAR-CANE AND BICE INSECT INVESTIGATIONS. 



The investigations of sugar-cane and rice insects, commencing July 

 1, 1909, consisted mainly of a preliminary survey of the species affect- 

 ing these crops, and the beginning of work on the more important 

 enemies that were found. The sugar-cane areas of Louisiana, Texas, 

 and Florida were visited, as well as the rice-growing regions in 

 Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. A laboratory was established in 

 Louisiana, and quarters were provided by the Louisiana sugar experi- 

 ment station, at Audubon Park. The Bureau has been fortunate in 

 enlisting the active cooperation of the Louisiana state experiment 

 stations in this work. This laboratory will be the headquarters for 

 the sugar-cane and rice insect investigations for the South generally, 

 and, as regards Louisiana, will be in direct cooperation with the state 

 officials. The results of the work at this laboratory will apply in a 

 general way to the areas in the entire sugar-cane and rice belts, with 

 the exception of the sugar-cane areas in the Kio Grande Valley in 

 southern Texas and those in southern Florida. Because of the open 

 winters in these districts, by which the insect pests are able to develop 

 continuously, particular consideration must be given to special meth- 

 ods of control. 



Work was begun upon the sugar-cane stalk borer, the root beetle, 

 the sugar-cane mealy bug, and the root weevil or maggot of rice. 

 It is estimated that the annual loss through insect pests on sugar 

 plantations in Louisiana reaches $1,500,000; in the Rio Grande val- 

 ley the percentage of loss from the sugar-cane stalk-borer is probably 

 as high, and the annual loss from insects injurious to rice in Louisi- 

 ana, Texas, and Arkansas is estimated to be $966,000. These figures 

 will illustrate the importance of these investigations. 



ARGENTINE ANT INVESTIGATIONS. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year work on the Argentine ant was 

 undertaken. Mr. Wilmon Newell, formerly secretary of the state 

 crop pest commission of Louisiana, who had done the principal work 

 upon this species in this country, consented to collaborate in this work, 

 and an expert agent was appointed and placed at Baton Rouge, La. 

 The main line of investigation was the relation between the ant and 

 the sugar-cane mealy bug, the control of which seems to be compli- 

 cated by the ant. At the same time efforts were made toward obtain- 

 ing information regarding other features of the injury by the ant. 

 The insect is of such importance in so many different ways that its 

 life history must be investigated from every standpoint. Aside from 

 this life-history work, experiments were begun in orange groves in 

 lower Louisiana in the effort to control it by means of traps and the 

 flooding process. This ant has threatened to destroy the orange in- 

 dustry in the parishes of lower Louisiana. In fact, many of the 

 groves have been abandoned. The trap and flooding experiments 



