April, '14] SASSCER: ENTOMOLOGICAL INSPECTION 241 



antine house, which is properly equipped with suitable fumigation 

 facilities, and is further provided with a stove, which is used to de- 

 stroy all condemned stock. This house is sufficiently large to allow 

 the opening of large containers, which may be fumigated without 

 removal, should they contain any suspicious insects. Small packages 

 of seeds, scions, and cuttings are examined in a room which is tightly 

 screened to prevent the exit of very minute insects should they escape 

 from the package at the time of examination. All plants regarded as 

 suspicious are grown under observation in a greenhouse, which is used 

 for this work alone and which is likewise tightly screened with a fine- 

 mesh wire. An accurate record is kept of all plants and plant prod- 

 ucts introduced by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction 

 as regards their origin, destination, nature, quantity, and date of 

 inspection. 



Judging from the numbei of packages and boxes examined during the 

 past 3^ear, one would naturally suppose that the inspection in the 

 District of Columbia is comparatively light. As regards the number 

 of plants examined, this may be true, but one must not lose sight of 

 the fact that a very large percentage of the plants and seeds introduced 

 by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction originate in 

 countries and localities of which we know little as regards their ento- 

 mological and pathological status. For this reason all packages 

 containing plants and seeds are thoroughly examined by representa- 

 tives of the Federal Horticultural Board, and anything showing the 

 slightest suspicion is either destroyed or grown under observation 

 in quarantine. It may not be out of place to cite an example of the 

 close inspection required to intercept pests coming in on stock from 

 abroad. Some time ago cuttings taken from a peach tree which was 

 supposed to have considerable value as regards the quality of fruit 

 produced were received from Shantung, China. From a casual 

 examination it appeared that these cuttings were free from injurious 

 insects, but, on close examination, they were found to exhibit over the 

 surface of the bark a few abrasions or scars, which, when opened, were 

 found to contain from eight to ten eggs of a tree hopper. This stock 

 was all destroyed and a second attempt Avas made to get an uninfested 

 shipment of this material. On examination the second shipment was 

 found to be likewise infested and was also destroyed. As to the 

 amount of injury which this insect is capable of doing in the United 

 States, should it become established, it is impossible to say, but, judg- 

 ing from the experience in the Mississippi Valley some years ago with 

 a tree hopper {Ceresa buhalus Fab.), it would be decidedly disadvan- 

 tageous to allow any insect of this nature to become established in 

 America. 



