TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 103 



tinct jj:onera, and finally turns out to have been first properly recognized 

 and described in Kussia. as a tobacco insect, so that we can not now say 

 whether it is European or American. As it now stands, it is Thrips tahaci 

 Lindenian. 



A repetition of descriptions is not always, however, to the discredit of 

 entomologists, as there are cases on record where an insect chooses one 

 food i)lant in one- country and another and quite different food plant in 

 another, and the change of food occasionally, with other influences, so 

 changes the general appearance as to render scientific recognition diffi- 

 cult. Tn other parts of the world, as well as our own country, insects 

 transfer their attention from forest to fruit trees, or from grasses to 

 grains, so that, as 30U will readily see, it is not by any means an easy mat- 

 ter to detect a foreign insect as soon as it lands, and the most of them are 

 like scandals — the further they stray from home the worse they get, un- 

 less yod can blot them out of existence by prompt action. 



Now, this reaching out over the world for better fruits, flowers, plants, 

 or grains is not onl}^ a legitimate business, but one that deserves every 

 encouiagement as well. If a nurseryman can find a better plum in 

 Japan than we have in America, by all means let him introduce it into 

 this country. But remember, please, that the United States custom- 

 house officers will examine trees only for Chinamen and opium, and not 

 finding such will pass them, though they may harbor all of the fruit pests 

 of the empire among their roots and branches. However, the Pacific 

 coast is so largely devoted to fruitgrowing, and the fruit interests are so 

 general, it is kept pretty well guarded by local governments from lower 

 California to Alaska. But how about the insect and fungus pests that 

 are already established there? 



What protection have you against such as now occur west of the Rocky 

 mountains? More than that, what protection have you against those 

 that are established on the Atlantic coast, or in Mexico. Absolutely 

 none whatever. Let me give you some illustrations. The pear midge, 

 Diplosis pyrivora. Figs. 1, 2, 3, a near relative of the wheat midge 

 or red weevil as it is sometimes called (Diplosis tritici), was intro- 

 duced into this country at Meridian. Connecticut, in 1877, on pear stocks 

 from France. It was not discovered for two years, and it was four more 

 before any attempt was made to exterminate it, and then only by individ- 

 ual effort; and you know as well as I how much this will amount to. It 

 was not stamped out, but has now spread south to New Jersey and north 

 to Albany, Nev,' York, and it is only a question of a very few years before 

 it will probably overrun the country west of the Alleghany mountains. 

 Gentlemen, what are you going to do about it? What indeed can you do? 

 The United States entomologists used every effort to have this pest 

 stamped out as soon as discovered, as would have been done in England 

 and under many of the European governments. At the expense of a few 

 hundred dollars at the start, our government might have stamped out a 

 pest that will in all probability cost us millions, and still be with us. 



In 1894, another enemy of the pear was discovered in New Jersey, a 

 borer, Agrilus sinuatus Oliv., Figs 4, 5, 6, 7, a relative of our raspberry 

 cane borer, that has likewise come over from France, probably having 

 been introduced in pear stocks. This, too, is spreading out over the coun- 

 try so fast as it can and without restriction. "VMiile examining the parks 



