WHOLE VOL. APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY HOWARD 197 



At the close of the year 1926 the locust outbreak had lost its 

 dangerous aspect and the Control Board was about to be dissolved, 

 but convinced by a memorial submitted by the chief of the Board (Ing. 

 Francisco Garcia Robledo), President Calles established the '' Oficina 

 Federal para la Defensa Agricola " which began operations in Janu- 

 ary, 1927. Senor Robledo was made director of the Office, Doctor 

 Dampf Chief of the Department of Research and Pest Control, and 

 Ing. E. Coppel Rivas Chief of the Department of Quarantine and 

 Inspection. On the ist of January, 1930, the Office was divided into 

 three departments: (i) Research, with a staff of 15 persons; (2) 

 Quarantine and Inspection, with 14 persons in the central office, and 

 60 inspectors; (3) Pest Control, which commands the nearly 2,000 

 rural associations for plant protection and organizes the campaign 

 against dangerous outbreaks of agricultural pests like locusts, rats, 

 etc. There is a section for publication and propaganda, and an 

 administrative section. 



Quite recently the United States Bureau of Entomology has entered 

 into an interesting and possibly very important plan of cooperation 

 with the Mexican government. Realizing the great desirability of a 

 laboratory in central Mexico which should be devoted to fundamental 

 studies on fruit-flies, a proposal was made to the Mexican govern- 

 ment, and a prompt agreement was reached. Two laboratory buildings 

 of the former Veterinary School in San Jacinto were taken in hand 

 by the Mexican authorities, funds were appropriated and the buildings 

 were put into first-class shape for modern work ; so that eventually 

 two modern concrete buildings and suitable grounds were turned over 

 to the workers of the United States Bureau of Entomology for as 

 long a period as desired. The Mexican officials took great pains to 

 equip these buildings to receive the most up-to-date type of laboratory 

 apparatus, and cannot be too highly praised for the rare vision that 

 induced them to authorize this move in the interest of cooperative 

 entomological research. 



To go back a bit : Especial mention, perhaps, should be made of 

 articles by L. de la Barreda and A. Madariaga in the Agricultural 

 Review of Mexico for 1919, and an article in the same Review for 

 1922 on cotton insects by G. Itie. In 192 1 important articles on 

 injurious insects were published by R. Ramirez and J. R. Inda; and 

 Sefior Inda published independently, under the Antonio Alzate 

 Society, in 1927, a report on the enemies of chick-peas. 



At least two experts from the United States have worked upon 

 certain insect problems in Mexico, entirely aside from the investiga- 

 tions made by Hunter, Coad, and others of their assistants in the 



