December, '22] horticultural inspection notes 441 



Mr. H. H. Willis, in charge of the inspection and fumigation works of the Federal 

 Horticultural Board at El Paso, Texas, has been temporarily transferred to Wash- 

 ington to assist in the inspection of plants introduced under Special Permit. 



Messrs. Faustino Q. Otanes and N. G. Tedoro of the Philippine Islands, who 

 have recently completed courses at the Universities of Illinois and Wisconsin re- 

 spectively, have during the months of October and November been studying the 

 inspection and disinfection methods employed by the Federal Horticultural Board in 

 Washington. 



The number of foreign shipments of nursery stock arriving under Special Permit 

 in Washington during the fall shipping season of 1922 is more than double the number 

 received during the same period of 1921. The season opened about two weeks 

 earlier this year than usual. Shipments arriving thus far include orchids, bulbs, 

 herbaceous perennials, and shrubs. 



Mr. Lee A. Strong, Chief, Bureau of Plant Quarantine of the State of California, 

 left Sacramento September 1 for the purpose of studying the port inspection methods 

 employed in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. While in the 

 east, Mr. Strong visited the Japanese beetle laboratory at Riverton, N. J., and 

 the bean beetle laboratory at Birmingham, Alabama. 



Mr. E. R. Sasscer, entomologist in charge of the plant quarantine inspection service 

 of the Federal Horticultural Board, returned the middle of September from an in- 

 spection trip of the ports of entry along the Mexican border and the Pacific Coast. 

 During this trip he had conferences with customs officials, port office officials and 

 various state officials, with a view to strengthening the plant quarantine inspection 

 service. 



The European Tulip Aphid, Anuraphis tulipae Boyer, is found to be present this 

 season, as in previous years, in nearly every shipment of iris rhizomes received from 

 Europe. It is also being found occasionally on Spanish iris bulbs. The insect is 

 apparently quite common in western Europe, having been taken repeatedly on 

 plants from England, France, and Holland. There are only a few records of the 

 finding of this species in the United States, and its distribution may be quite local 



Larvae of the Narcissus and Lesser Bulb Flies have been frequently found in 

 Narcissus bulbs from France and Holland during the bulb shipping season, which 

 has just been completed. One shipment consisting of eight cases of French bulbs 

 arriving in New York, which was carefully examined, showed from one to five per 

 cent, of the bulbs to be infested with Merodon equestris. A shipment of eighty- 

 seven cases, for the most part Narcissus bulbs, arriving at Philadelphia from Holland, 

 was found to be infested with both Merodon equestris and Eumerus slrigatus. From 

 one hundred to two hundred bulbs, examined in eighteen cases, exhibited an infesta- 

 tion varying from one to twelve and one-half per cent. One bulb examined by Mr. 

 H. L. Sanford was found to contain seventy-seven larvae of Eumerus slrigatus. 



