194 DEPARTMENTAL EE PORTS. 



South African locust, or our climate makes our species of grasshopper 

 more resistant, or the fungus less operative. 



WORK ON SCALE INSECTS. 



The imi^ortant work of the j^ear on scale insects has been the inves- 

 tigation of the San Jose scale in China and Japan, referred to under 

 " Work on insects from abroad." The experimental work on the San 

 Jose scale at home has been continued, and Circular 42 (second series), 

 describing the methods of controlling this insect, has been revised to 

 include the results of the latest information on methods of treatment. 



This oifice is looked upon as the chief source of information upon 

 scale insects, few of the experiment stations having collections or 

 literature sufficient to enable the determination of specimens; hence 

 much work is done every year in determining material for station 

 entomologists and for j)rivate individuals throughout the country. 

 In addition many large collections of scale insects have been received 

 for study and determination from foreign covmtries, notably from Aus- 

 tralia, New Zealand, the Bermudas, and Italy. In the trip of the Avriter 

 through Japan and China, Java, and other countries in the Orient, a 

 particular study was made of the scale enemies of fruit trees, and 

 large collections of this class of pests were brought home from tlie 

 countries visited. The knowledge gained from the study of the pre- 

 served specimens will be of great practical importance. It will 

 acquaint us with the scale pests of these countries, Avhich are being 

 brought into closer commercial relations with the United States, a 

 knowledge which is desirable because these insects are more aj)t in 

 the future than in the i)ast to reach our shores through importations 

 of fruit trees and ornamental stock. The scale insects of foreign 

 countries are perhaps the most important pests to be considered in 

 all quarantine and other operations looking to the protection of our 

 growers from foreign invasions, since these insects live for the most 

 part attached to the bark of trees and are much more apt to be brought 

 in with plants than are other insects. 



WORK ON INSECTS DAMAGING FORESTS. 



During tlie year several important investigations were made of for- 

 est insect depredations by Dr. A. D. Hopkins, of the West Virginia 

 experiment station, who was emploj^ed, at the request of Mr. Gifford 

 Pinchot, of the Bureau of Foi-estry, as a temporary agent of this office 

 for the purpose. Great loss of pine timber, to the amount of more 

 than 22(1, 000, 000 feet (board measure), in the Black Hills forest reserves 

 was found to result from the woi-k of a bark-beetle mining under the 

 bark of living trees. Numerous facts were determined relative to the 

 life history of this insect, and it was possible to detail practical methods 

 the adoption of which would prevent future losses. A report of this 

 investigation is i)ublished in Bulletin No. 32 (new series) of this office. 

 The present summer this work was continued by the detailing of a 

 student assistant in the Bureau of Forestry to carry out experimental 

 work in the Black Hills region looking to the control of this destruc- 

 tive beetle. These experiments, carried on under the direction of Dr. 

 Hopkins, have been meeting with excellent success, and some very 

 important and practical results are being attained. 



Another investigation, also conducted by Dr. Hopkins, was made 

 iu November, 1901, of hickorj^ and other forest trees near Geneseo, 



