WHOLE VOL. APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY HOWARD 527 



displayed in various publications of the Bureau of Entomology. The 

 other large-scale attempt has been to bring over from Japan, China, 

 and India -the natural enemies of the so-called Japanese beetle, and 

 the progress of this effort has also been shown in various publications 

 of the Bureau. One especially interesting feature of this work, 

 although it was a failure, was the shipment of 900 eggs of Ithone 

 fusca, a Neuropteroid insect, sent by Dr. R. J. Tillyard from New 

 Zealand. This shipment was received December 3, 1921. This insect, 

 in its larval state, preys upon soil-inhal)iting grubs, and Doctor Till- 

 yard has written a very striking account of its swarming at certain 

 times in Australia. These eggs were held over in the spring of 1922 

 in cold storage. A number hatched, but the larvae all died before 

 reaching the second instar. I am informed that it is planned to send 

 an expert to Australia in the autumn of 1930 to search for desirable 

 enemies of white grubs and this species will be among those sent to 

 this country if ]x)ssible. 



An attemj:)t about which little has been published down to the pres- 

 ent time is that of bringing over from Europe two Tachinid flies. 

 Digoiicliocta sctipcnnis and Rhacodiucura antlqna, both parasites 

 of the European earwig. Puparia of these flies have been collected 

 in the south of England and the south of France, and quantities of 

 living earwigs of which a certain projxjrtion were probably parasitized 

 by these insects have been sent to Portland, Oregon, and placed in 

 specially prepared insectaries under the charge of Mr. H. C. Atwell, a 

 State official . They have not bred freely in confinement, and although 

 many have been liberated no striking results have been reached as yet. 



One of the rather large projects of the Bureau of Entomology was 

 the introduction from Europe of parasites of the alfalfa weevil. A 

 summary of these attempts was published as Circular No. 301 of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, April, 1924. The author 

 was T. R. Chamberlin, who spent the summer of 1923 in Europe 

 making an especial study of these parasites. Even before the great 

 war, however, several species had been introduced through the efforts 

 of W. F. Fiske and W. R. Thompson who were sent in 1911-12 to 

 Italy and the South of France for the purpose. Only one of these 

 species {Bathyplcctes curcuUonls Thoms.) at that time established 

 itself in Utah and has since multiplied and spread at the expense of 

 the weevil to a very considerable extent. 



In 1919 an attempt was made by Mr. T. E. Plolloway, an agent 

 of the Bureau, to introduce a Tachinid fly, Euzcnilliopsis diatracae, 

 from Cuba into Louisiana to destroy the sugar cane borer. This 

 expedition was sent at the expense of the Louisiana planters. 



