ela Tere ey ee ea 
By,.b. E.. CHimtenDEN,. Sc. .Ds 
In Charge of Truck Crop and Stored Product Insect Investigations. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Prominent among the many species of insects which are being 
‘constantly shipped to this country from abroad is the fig moth 
(EL phestia cautella Walk.). Since 1908 this species has attracted 
much attention by its occurrence in various edibles in different por- 
tions of the United States, as well as in the mills of Texas and Louisi- 
ena. It has been concerned, with other insects, in considerable dam- 
age to rice, and reports are available of similar injury to flour and 
corn meal and other mill products, cotton seed, various other dried 
seeds and fruits, and other stored foods. 
In the late fall of the year 1909, however, the species attained 
unusual prominence from the fact fee the Bureau of Chemistry, 
working in pursuance of legislation on the pure food and drug 
law, seized numerous consignments and cargoes of figs in New York, 
Philadelphia, Boston, and some other large cities. This brought to 
light the fact that a very large portion of imported figs, especially 
such as are shipped from Smyrna, which port ships about 90 per cent 
of its total output to the United States, is found to be badly infested’ 
when reaching America. The dried figs in the market are frequently 
found to contain from 15 to 50 per cent and even higher percentages 
of infested fruit. These estimates, chiefly by the Bureau of Chem- 
istry, are based partly on the presence of the insect, but largely on 
that of its excreta. The gravity of the situation became such in 1909 
and 1910 that thousands of dollars’ worth of figs were condemned, 
leading the dealers in Smyrna figs to request an investigation of the 
matter by the United States Department of Agriculture. 
In accordance with the Secretary’s direction, the following account 
of the fig moth has been drawn up, including a report, by Mr. E. G. 
Smyth, on the occurrence of. the insect in what is perhaps its native 
home—Smyrna, Turkey in Asia. The writer’s article deals pri- 
marily with the insect as a pest in stored products in America. 
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