236 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



made to give publicity to the fact, that the coffee berry is a preferred 

 host of the Mediterranean fruit-fly. In practically all the house 

 yards T visited in Honolulu I found coffee bushes growing. These 

 were generally located along the fences or dividing line between the 

 lots, and invariably in such instances I found maggots common in 

 the colored berries. No measure can be too drastic, no restrictions 

 too severe, or no punishment too great to be applied to prevent this 

 practice should such ever be proven to actually occur. 



It is with such possible contingencies constantly present to my 

 mind that I make a plea for a plan of permanent Federal inspection 

 covering all horticultural exports leaving the territory of Hawaii for 

 the mainland. A menace second only to the actual pest itself is the 

 universally held and very generally expressed opinion that the Med- 

 iterranean fruit-fly could not exist even if introduced into the main- 

 land, and that our actions concerning its possible establishment are 

 largely a matter of local hysteria. This feeling in far too many 

 instances that came to my attention has progressed until it has 

 reached the stage of an obsession, and has permeated very deeply 

 into official circles. Recurrent statements satisfy me that the old 

 principle of "Caveat emptor" dominates to a certain extent both 

 popular and official sentiment in the island concerning the matter of 

 minor horticultural exports, and while I am a firm believer in the 

 policy and value of inspection at the point of entry, the gravity of 

 this situation and the contingencies that are at present inseparably 

 connected with it are such as to make imperative Federal super- 

 vision of all horticultural exports at the point of origin. 



The work of the Mediterranean fruit-fly is the most disgustingly 

 disastrous of any I have met with in the work of half a life time. 

 We have not a counterpart of it in any insect as yet established in 

 the orchards or gardens of the United States. No one of the states 

 in the Union whose horticultural and other industries are directly 

 or indirectly threatened by the constant commerce between the 

 islands and the mainland can make operative any protective or defen- 

 sive action until the pest or its hosts have reached their borders. 

 The Federal Government is the only power on the mainland in pos- 

 session of the prerogative to make and enforce such measures as will 

 prevent any host of this pest from leaving the infested territory. An 

 investigation will soon satisfy the legislative powers that no estab- 

 lished commercial industry on the islands at the present time would 

 suffer from such action. There is no hope of the pest being reduced 

 to such a point that danger of infestation by unrestricted trade in 

 its host fruits will cease. The mainland will have to remain ou the 

 defensive for all time from now on, and this very factor should prove 

 sufficient argument for the foundation of the preventive work on 

 such a basis as will render it immune to the vicissitudes of ever 

 changing local authorities. 



PUBLICITY OF QUARANTINE ORDERS. 



Outside of the notices posted on the entrances to the docks by the 

 agents of the United States Department of Agriculture, calling atten- 

 tion to the provisions, .of United States Notice of Quarantine No. 2 

 (domestic), no other evidence of publicity given to this matter came 



