314 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 15 



and north of Anasco and at Coloso the infestation is light or doubtful, the interior 

 of some of the bolls being characteristically stained, but no insects found. On the 

 north coast outside of the cotton district, infested plants have been found at Bar- 

 celoneta, Vega Baja and on the beach at Dorado, The pink boUworm has also 

 been found in Vieques Island to the east of Porto Rico and in Mona Island to the 

 west. George N. Wolcott 



The Use of Poisons as Insecticides in The French Colonies. In an article in the 

 Comptes Rendns des Seances de VAcademie d' Agriculture de France for the 29th of 

 March, 1922, Veterinary Major H. Velu gives a very interesting statement of French 

 laws which have operated to prevent the use of arsenical poisons, not only in France, 

 but in her colonies. He shows that the use of these poisonous substances has given 

 rise to no fatal accidents in America, and that the experiments made by the New 

 Hampshire station from 1912 to 1916 have irrefutably established the fact that the 

 dangers of the use of such poisons are greatly exaggaerated. He cites the use of 

 arsenical baths against the Texas fever tick in the United States, and gives figures 

 showing that in 1919 250,196 gallons of arsenical solutions were used, in which 

 48,530,229 domestic animals were bathed. He states that by the use of arsenious 

 acid and its derivatives, soluble or insoluble, immense regions in California, pre- 

 viously deserted, have been transformed into productive country. Thanks to 

 arsenicals, he says, California inundates all the markets of the world with its fruits; 

 and, thanks to the arsenicals, English — and Spanish- — speaking countries produce 

 cattle of the first, quality. He shows that the French are away behind and that the 

 French colonists are ignorant, as a rule, of spray formulas and animal bath formulas. 

 He states that it is quite evident that fruit orchards cannot be developed in North 

 Africa unless they can be easily protected against injurious insects; and that high 

 grade domestic animals cannot be raised without arsenical baths. He shows that 

 the employment of arsenicals in agriculture in France is regulated by the law of the 

 12th of July, 19 16, a revision of the law of 1845, by the decree of the 14th of September, 

 1916, and the Ministerial Circulars of the 14th of January, 1917, and the 27th of 

 April, 1921. These laws allow the sale and the employment of insoluble arsenical 

 compounds exclusively for the struggle against the parasitic diseases of plants. 

 Contrary to the English law entitled "The Poisons and Pharmacy Act" of 1908 

 and the modifying texts, they do not apply in any case to soluble compounds how- 

 ever indispensable for use against the parasites of domestic animals. They tolerate 

 in a provisional way the use of soluble arsenicals in agriculture since the spring of 

 1922. He shows that in June, 1921, the Academy of Medicine opened the question 

 once more and Professor Cazeneuve argued again against the free use of arsenicals 

 in agriculture. 



He shows that in France the economic side of the question is possibly secondary 

 or even negligible, but it is quite different in the colonies, where the prohibition of 

 arsenicals, and even soluble arsenicals, will bring disaster and will greatly reduce the 

 value of the products of the colonies. 



The French laws are applicable to Algeria, to the colonies and to the countries of 

 the protectorate. This puts the French colonies at a great disadvantage with the 

 English colonies and the Americans, who, with their essentially practical spirit, 

 have not hesitated to permit arsenical baths and all of the arsenical sprays whether 

 soluble or not; and the French rules are anti-economic and indeed superannuated. 



"Summing up," he says, "the question resolves itself down to whether a few ac- 

 cidents which have happened in France owing to the employment of arsenicals are 

 sufficiently important to justify in the colonies the depreciation of extremely fertile 



