7i6 J ouriial of Agricidiitre. [9 Dec, 1907 



INSECT PESTS IN FOREIGN LANDS. 



Second Progress Report by Mr. W . TF. Froggatt, F.L.S. 

 {Continued from fagc 685.) 



I have the honour to report that I reached California on the 21st 

 August and as soon as I landed presented my credentials to Mr. Bremner, 

 Acting Oflficer-in-Charge of the State Board of Horticulture. The 

 insectary consists of a few jars and breeding cages in a small room 

 adjoining the main office and is not more than 12 feet square, whilst the 

 chief insects are the codlin moth parasites that Mr. Compere brought over 

 from Spain, which have been bred in captivity in large numbers by 

 placing thousands of codlin moth grubs among half-a-dozen strips of 

 wood tied in bundles of half-a-dozen. The ichneumon flies {Efhialtes 

 carbonarius Zach.) puncture the enclosed codlin moth grubs and deposit 

 their eggs in the body of the grub where they hatch, feed, pupate and 

 emerge in the cages as perfect wasps. 



In the afternoon I went on the wharves with Mr. Bremner to see the 

 methods of passing fruit under their regulations. The chief fruit upon 

 the wharves was bananas, each bunch being rolled and tied up in leaves. 

 None of these are inspected, as bananas are not grown in California. A 

 large shipment of pineapples also came over from Honolulu from the 

 United States ExjDerimental Station to Mr. Higgens, the Hawaiian fruit 

 expert. These were not inspected in any way, but a number of small 

 consignments in large boxes closely packed in grass were stacked on the 

 wharf, an oiled sheet thrown over them, and an unmeasured charge of 

 cyanide, acid and water placed in a jar under this sheet and left there for 

 half-an-hour ; the sheet was then dragged off, and the carriers removed 

 them. There were a number of other stacks of fruit around on the wharf 

 which were removed without fumigation, but Mr. Bremner informed me 

 these would be fumigated by the fruit merchants in their own warehouses. 

 All plants and little lots of fruit brought by passengers on boats outside 

 Californian ports are treated in the same manner. 



Xext day I went across to Alameda and found Mr. Koebele, and also 

 with him Mr. Giffard, head of the Sugar Planters' Association of Hawaii. 

 Mr. Koebele has been able tO' give me a great deal of general information 

 on parasites and has given me the free run of his large entomological 

 collections. He is going down to Mexico to collect parasites for the 

 Hawanan Planters' Association next month, so I expect after leaving 

 Washington to go southwards and meet him at El Paso and while 1 am 

 in Mexico will have his knowledge of that country, which will be an 

 immense advantage in working at the fruit flies attacking the oranges there. 



As the town of San Francisco is in such a disorganized state I came 

 across the bay and made Alameda my headquarters; the same day I 

 visited Berkeley University and met Dr. Woodworth who is Professor of 

 Entomology. He has been very kind and gone with me to several 

 interesting districts to study insect pests. With him I visited Watsonville 

 and spent a long day in the apple orchards of Pijari Valley, which is 

 sicuated between Monteroy and Vera Cruz, and contains about 14,000 acres 

 of commercial apple orchards. The fog sweeps on from the sea for the 

 greater part of the year and the conditions of codlin moth and spraying 

 are remarkable, as in different altitudes the codlin moth is very variable 



