REPORT ON THE FIG MOTH IN SMYRNA. 
By E. G. SMytu, Entomological Assistant. 
In accordance with orders received from the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, contained in a letter of authority dated July 1, 1910, and under 
specific instructions from Dr. F. H. Chittenden, contained in a letter 
of June 30, the writer sailed from New York on July 9 for Smyrna, 
Turkey in Asia, to investigate the problem of eliminating the fig 
moth (£phestia cautella Walk.) and other insects injurious to dried 
figs. 
SOURCES OF INFESTATION. 
As in the solution of all similar problems of how to avoid injury 
from insect attack, before definite remedies could be prescribed it 
was necessary to determine the exact source of infestation. There 
are seven distinct periods in the preparation of Smyrna figs for mar- 
ket, before their receipt at New York, when infestation by moths 
is possible: (1) While the fruit is on the tree; (2) while drying on 
the ground; (3) in the fig “depots” of interior Asia Minor; (4) in 
the freight cars en route to Smyrna; (5) in the bazaars in Smyrna; 
(6) in the packing houses or “khans”¢ of Smyrna; and (7) in the 
steamers during shipment to America. All previously noted habits 
of the same moth in this country, where it occurs only in buildings 
or places where dried fruits or food materials are stored, pointed to 
the packing houses as the most probable source of infestation, it being 
a matter of common knowledge that in them conditions of uncleanli- 
ness are so bad that the moths, if once established, would breed 
generation after generation unmolested. 
When the writer reached Smyrna, August 5, it was found that the 
fig export season had scarcely begun and figs were not yet arriving 
from the villages, so the interior of Asia Minor was visited Half 
of the month of August was spent in the Meander Valley (Pl. V, 
fig. 2), which furnishes about 90 per cent of the dried figs of Smyrna, 
and in immediate proximity to the trees, where every condition sur- 
rounding the maturing and dropping of the fruit could be noted. 
24 Turkish and Syrian word4—a caravansary or unfurnished inn; used in Smyrna to 
designate a packing house, because caravansaries are often used for fig packing. 
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