LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
Untrep States DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
Bureau or Enromo.oey, 
Washington, D. C., August 2, 1911. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript of a 
bulletin dealing with the fig moth. It consists of two papers, the 
first, entitled “The Fig Moth,” by Dr. F. H. Chittenden, in charge 
of truck-crop and stored-product insect investigations, and the sec- 
ond, entitled “ Report on the Fig Moth in Smyrna,” by Mr. E. G. 
Smyth, entomological assistant. 
While the fig moth has been known in this country as a pest since 
1897, at which time a short preliminary paper was published in 
regard to it in Bulletin No. 8, new series, of this bureau, it was not 
until 1908 that the insect attracted any great attention. It had by 
that time invaded mills of various kinds, including rice mills in the 
Southern States, and in these situations it is now quite a serious pest. 
In 1909 and 1910 thousands of dollars worth of figs were condemned 
by the Bureau of Chemistry under the law regulating the sale of 
adulterated or deleterious foods and drugs. This led the importers 
and dealers in Smyrna figs to request an investigation of the matter 
by the United States Department of Agriculture. 
In pursuance of your directions Mr. E. G. Smyth visited Smyrna 
in Asia Minor to investigate the local conditions under which this 
important industry is carried on, and his report is embodied in the 
second paper of this bulletin. The work upon which the first paper 
is based was conducted by Dr. Chittenden in person, and this portion 
of the bulletin gives a very full general account of the insect. 
The life history and food habits of the fig moth, as it occurs in the 
District of Columbia, where the weather in midsummer is not ma- 
terially cooler than in Smyrna, have been thoroughly worked out, 
while the recommendations as to remedies are based upon actual 
experiments. 
Particularly valuable among the remedies suggested would be the 
treatment of figs in specially prepared fumigatories located a short 
distance from the “ khans” or buildings in which the figs are stored. 
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