FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



The story of the successes and the failures in experimental 

 work of this kind is very long. I have told it in my "History of 

 Applied Entomology" ^ and in "The Insect Menace," ^ so that 

 it is not necessary to go into details here. Some startling, dramatic 

 things have been done. The great sugar-cane industry of Hawaii 

 has undoubtedly been saved by this method. The copra industry 

 in Fiji (their principal industry) has also been saved by the in- 

 troduction of parasites. The silk industry of Italy has profited 

 enormously by the introduction and establishment of parasites of 

 the white mulberry scale. These parasites were brought from 

 the United States. Now the news has just come that the im- 

 •portation of a little parasite {Coccophagus Gurneyi) from 

 Australia by Mr. Harold Compere under the direction of Harry 

 Scott Smith, has again saved the citrus industry of California 

 from approaching destruction, this time by the Citrophilus mealy- 

 bug, or at least this introduction has relieved the growers from 

 a tremendous burden. 



It may very pertinently be asked, what had I to do with all 

 this } The honest reply is, "Not very much," but I have been con- 

 stantly writing on the subject and supporting and encouraging 

 efforts of this kind and at the same time have fathered much 

 of what has been done under the direct auspices of the Bureau 

 of Entomology. It is true that some of the greatest successes 

 have been made in other parts of the world, and that successes in 

 this kind of work are much more easily reached in small and 

 rather peculiarly situated countries, and especially in islands, 

 where the climate is equable and where the native fauna and flora 

 are simple. This does not hold for a vast continental area like 

 the United States, and, consequently, although we have done 



* Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 84. Washington, Nov. 31, 1930. 

 •Century Company, New York, 1931. 



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