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cases of orchids, 1 case of bulbs and 32 cases of miscellaneous 

 plants, arrived from the Coast. These plants were landed on 

 Pier 10. We noticed some ants running about the cases, which 

 I recognized as the Argentine ant (Iridomyrmex humilis), but 

 to make sure I went to the laboratory on King street and, with 

 Mr. Fullaway, determined them as such. I then had the whole 

 shipment hauled to the only safe house we have, the fumigating 

 house on Kilauea street, and gave the shipment a fumigation 

 with hydrocyanic gas. We were imable to work in the house 

 that afternoon on account of the strong gas which remained in 

 the building. The next morning each plant was gone over care- 

 fully, all the soil removed and plants repacked in moss and paper. 

 We passed a great many plants without finding a trace of ants. 

 In the afternoon, however, we discovered the nests in a corner 

 of a box of carnation plants and we wrapped this box and another, 

 which also showed a few ants, into an oiled tarpaulin and fumi- 

 gated these over night. In the morning the colony of ants was 

 dead. It was indeed fortunate that we had the Kilauea street 

 fumigation house, because if we had stored this shipment on any 

 of the docks the ant colony might have migrated over night and 

 lodged itself in some of the numerous cracks that are found on 

 nearly all of the docks. This is the first instance in which I 

 have discovered the Argentine ant arriving in the Territory. 

 This ant is spreading very rapidly in California and is a terrible 

 pest, not only in residences, but in stores and warehouses. It is 

 a very hard ant to combat, and would prove a serious menace to 

 many of our industries. The ant is liable to be brought into 

 the Territory in a package, box or crate of merchandise at any 

 time, as the records show that this is the manner in which the 

 ant has been carried into various districts in several States of 

 the Union. I must, therefore, take this opportunity to again ap- 

 peal to the Commissioners to hurry with the proposed equipment 

 of the Division of Plant Inspection. The present inadequate 

 quarters on Pier 7 will not permit the handling of large ship- 

 ments, but will do for small shipments. The floor of this office 

 is a cement floor. The equipment of Pier 10 is practically given 

 up, as that pier is soon to be torn down and is now crowded with 

 building materials, so that it is impossible to handle plants in the 

 vicinity of our laboratory. The equipment on Pier 16 has been 

 useless ever since the removal of the Matson line from there. 

 When all of the equipment is centralized under one roof, then 

 only will we be able to work with safety. 



Besides this ant we found a number of large garden snails 

 {Helix aspersa), which is a troublesome pest in and around the 

 San Francisco bay region. We also found the common garden 

 slug (Limax species) in the packing of this shipment. Neither 

 of these pests is in the Territory. 



On September 19th we found a shipment of 70 boxes of pears 

 badly infested with the codlin moth. All the boxes were hauled 

 to the Kilauea fumigating house and there sorted. Fifty boxes 



