21 



I may therefore announce, with nioclerate certainty, that no evil result will occur to 

 our agricultural interests from any introduction of foreign insects by means of tiie Cen- 

 tennial exhibits. 



Before concluding this report, by a list of the insects collected in the buildings, it 

 is our duty to notice some remarkable differences between the exhibits from different 

 countries, indicating the care with which the specimens had been prepared, and the means 

 taken to prevent depredations by insects. 



All those exhibits which had been moist when packed, or had become moist or 

 mouldy ou the voyage or during the Exhibition, abounded in Brwhus, Calamlra, and 

 Tineidte ; while those which were protected against moisture were unattacked. It stands 

 to reason, in fact, that insects dependent on a circulating fluid for their vitality, and 

 having, during their early stages as larvse, a very soft and moist body, cannot obtain in 

 properly dried grains the requisite amount of moisture for their sustenance, and the egg, 

 if previously deposited, will remain, like an ungerminating seed, for a favourable moment 

 to develop, or if hatched, the larva will die at an early stage. 



It was, therefore, with great pleasure that we recognised the appreciation of this al- 

 most self-evident proposition by the Department of Agriculture of Portugal. The exhi- 

 bits in bottles were entirely free from all mould and infection, and in each bottle was a 

 small quantity of caustic lime,* wrapped in paper, which, by its hygrometric power, had 

 ke]>t the specimens perfectly dry. 



We do not intend to have jt inferred, from what is above stated, that all the other 

 exhibits were in a condition inferior to that of Portugal ; on the contrary, many of them, 

 as well as many from our own States, were in most admirable order ; but, so fiir as we 

 could learn, this good condition had been produced by great personal care, and the re- 

 moval from time to time of the infected parts ; not by the use of a pre\entive 

 agent. 



While investigating the occurrence of a small species of Tineidai in the Italian exhi- 

 bit of Leghorn straw, I learned that some importations of straw goods, by Messrs. Albi- 

 nola & Bailey, of New York, had been attacked by insects. I immediately wrote to 

 those gentlemen, who, with great courtesy, sent me two collections of the insects, infest- 

 ing a recent importation which had become mouldy from being packed in a moist condi- 

 tion. The names of the species contained in this set are appended ; they are all either 

 carnivorous or fungivorous, and can therefore do no harm ; some of them have not 

 been before observed in the United States, or their habits have not been noted, ^^'hat 

 is more important, however, is that none of the straw goods were attacked by moths 

 either on this or previous occasions. It is therefore to be inferred that the moth in the 

 Italian exhibit was the grain-moth of the seed of the grass which produced the straw used 

 in the manufacture of the Italian goods. What confirms this inference is that the moths 

 occurred in but one case, in which were exhibited several bunches of the straw with the 

 heads of grain still remaining. 



Prof. C. V. Riley, in the Proceedings of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Oct. 

 2, 1876, has given a list of the species which he collected at the Centennial Exhibition, 

 with very useful and suggestive remarks. We have obtained specimens of all the species 

 mentioned by him except one, Crambide Lepidopteron, from the Egyptian exhibit, for 

 which we sought without success. At an earlier period in the season, and with smaller 

 attendance of visitors, the number of species in our list would perhaps have been larger, 

 but no additional advantage would have been obtained therefrom. The species, with the 

 few exceptions noted, are either innocuous or previously introduced. 



J. L. LeConte, Ckainnaii, 

 Geo. H. Horn, 

 Joseph Leidy. 



* The nature of the fMiwder was suspected by the Committee, but the determination was made through 

 the annlysis of Mr. Edward Goldsmith. 



