U.S. D. A., B. E. Bul. 96, Part IV. T.C. & 8. P. I. 1., October 12, 1911. 
PAPERS ON INSECTS AFFECTING STORED PRODUCTS. 
CARBON TETRACHLORID AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR CARBON 
BISULPHID IN FUMIGATION AGAINST INSECTS. 
By F. H. Currrenpen, 
In Charge of Truck Crop and Stored Product Insect Investigations, 
and 
C. H. Popenog, 
Entomological Assistani. 
INTRODUCTION. 
A representative of a chemical company in Baltimore, Md., sug- 
gested to the senior writer as early as 1905 the use of carbon tetra- 
chlorid (CCI,) as a possible substitute for carbon bisulphid (CS,), since 
the tetrachlorid is known to be noninflammable. A sample was kindly 
furnished and was thoroughly tested in the open and found, as claimed, 
to be noninflammable. No opportunity, however, was afforded at that 
time to make a detailed series of tests of its insecticidal properties. 
A druggist of Washington, D. C., also suggested the substitution 
of this chemical for carbon bisulphid, and as others had made similar 
suggestions a series of experiments was begun on a small scale at 
Washington, D. C., under the senior author’s direction, by the junior 
author and by Mr. D. K. McMillan. 
Carbon tetrachlorid, when pure, is a thin, transparent, colorless, oily 
fluid, with a pungent, aromatic odor—not powerful, however, as in 
the case of carbon bisulphid, and not nearly so disagreeable. It is 
manufactured by the combination, in a heated tube, of the vapors of 
carbon bisulphid and chlorine. It has a specific gravity about one- 
third greater than carbon bisulphid, and is similar in other properties, 
with the exception of being noninflammable. 
There are records of experiments made with this chemical as a 
fumigant for nursery trees in 1908, but tests for stored products 
affected with insects were made more recently. One of the former 
records is by Dr. W. E. Britton,1 who states that carbon tetra- 
chlorid was used at rates of from 1 to 8 ounces in a fumigating box 
containing 10 cubic feet of space, the fumigating period varying from 
2to6 hours. All scales were killed, and no trees were injured, where 
1 Journ. Econ. Ent., vol. 1, p. 111, 1908. 53 
