BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 539 



of experiments with the fowl tick have been conducted. This form 

 is so injurious that it has caused the abandonment of the poultry 

 industr}^ in souie places. The work has been carried far enough to 

 result in practical suggestions for control which will be dealt with 

 in a circular soon to be issued. 



There is a possibility that destructive ticks may be introduced into 

 this country from INIexico at any time. They might be brought 

 across the boundary on cattle, horses, dogs, or even human beings. 

 In order to determine the actual danger an agent was sent through 

 northern INIexico for a few weeks during the year. The results indi- 

 cate that precautions against the entrance of new forms should by 

 all me?ns be taken. 



WORK ON INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STORED PRODUCTS. 



The work on insects injurious to stored products has been continued 

 along similar lines, under the direction of Dr. F. H. Chittenden. 

 Special attention was given to inspection and fumigation, as demon- 

 stration work and as experiment, in mills in Kansas, Texas, Okla- 

 homa, Missouri, and Louisiana. 



THE POINT OF INFESTATION TO EXPORT FLOUR. 



The original source of the trouble which caused requests for this 

 line of investigation was the infestation, chiefly by flour beetles {Tri- 

 hoUum fernigbieum and others), of export flour milled in the States 

 mentioned and shipped to Europe and Africa, mainly through the 

 ports of Xew Orleans and Galveston. During the two years in 

 which this topic has been under constant investigation, in the warmer 

 months which permit of such work, effort has been made to deter- 

 mine the exact point of infestation, which might be at any place-— 

 at rhe mill or between that point and the place where the flour is 

 delivered to the purchaser. 1\liile a possibility exists of infestation 

 on car and steamship lines, on wagons used in carting the flour or 

 other cereal from the mills to the port of destination, and at the 

 ports both in this country and abroad, it is now established that in 

 the vast majority of cases the point of primary infestation is the 

 milling establishments themselves. A large number of mills have 

 been investigated in the States mentioned, and while many are 

 maintained in a scrupulously neat and clean manner and are fumi- 

 gated twice a year, or as often as necessary, still there are many others 

 where carelessness prevails and where fumigation is not regularly 

 performed. In the carelessly kept mills, flour beetles, the ]\Iediter- 

 ranean flour moth, and various other mill pests accumulate and are 

 carried from the mills on sacks of flour, thus infesting cargoes which 

 reach foreign ports in unsalable condition. Under conditions favor- 

 able to their development, in warm weather, some of the insects can 

 develop from Qgg, to adult in five or six weeks. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH. 



As in the past year, the Afediterrauean flour moth has again en- 

 gaged the largest share of attention. The larva or caterpillar of this 

 species is the greatest pest with wiiich millers have ever had to con- 



