BOOKWORMS 



By E. A. Back 



Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, V. 8. Department of Agriculture 



[With 18 plates ]i 



When one enters such thoroughly modern structures of stone, steel, 

 and cement as the Congressional Library or the National Archives 

 in Washington, D. C, or the Huntington Library in California, to 

 mention only three repositories of documents embodying the best 

 information available to the librarian, he is so overwhelmed by a 

 sense of beauty and permanence that he finds it hard to believe the 

 often repeated statement that insects have destroyed more books and 

 papers than fire and water. Yet the concrete examples of book des- 

 truction by insects which have come to the attention of the Federal 

 Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture during the past 15 years leaves little 

 doubt as to the soundness of the belief that insects are in the front 

 rank of book enemies. Persons living in northern climates see less 

 of the ravages of book insects, but no lover of books located in the 

 Tropics need have his attention called to their importance. 



Insect attack upon books and papers increases as the climate be- 

 comes warmer and more humid. No part of a country such as the 

 United States appears entirely free from library pests. Some of 

 the most serious infestations have been found in little-used libraries 

 in New York City, New England, and the northern tier of States, 

 although the number of such infestations is exceeded by far by those 

 that occur along the Gulf coast northward to the Mason-Dixon line. 

 There is no well-informed librarian anywhere who is not constantly 

 on the watch to detect infestations by insects, either in books already 

 on the library shelves, or in books newly acquired from outside 

 sources. 



The importance of insects as destroyers of books has been recog- 

 nized for years. Many of the. earliest manuscripts have been 



* Photographs taken under supervision of author by Marcel L. P. Foubert, Division of 

 Illustrations, Office of Information, U. S. Department of Agriculture, unless otherwise 

 credited. 



365 



