INSECT CONTROL 305 



alive. In the following year, six hundred and ninety-three 

 specimens of an allied species, Calosoma inquisitor, safely 

 reached the land of the Stars and Stripes from Switzerland 

 and Italy. Of these, several colonies were liberated in 

 the field, and others were confined in outdoor cages and 

 their habits were very carefully studied and recorded. In 

 1907, nine hundred and fifty-seven specimens were received 

 alive, in spite of a fifty per cent, mortality; in 1908, the 

 numbers imported were six hundred and seventy-five ; in 

 1909, four hundred and five; and in 1910, one thousand 

 three hundred and five. In all, four thousand and forty- 

 six specimens became useful, naturalised citizens of the 

 United States in six years, and of these sixty-seven per 

 cent, were liberated to begin operations against their lepi- 

 dopterous enemies, and the remainder were confined in a 

 State insectary for experimental work and to reproduce 

 their kind for future use in the field. 



That profitable use was made of the insectary inmates 

 is evident, for, in 1908, two thousand three hundred beetles 

 were raised ; in 1909 the numbers had increased to six 

 thousand one hundred, and in the following year a further 

 increase, to six thousand three hundred and eighty, was 

 recorded. Figures are dry matter to the lay reader, and, 

 it is said, they may be made to prove anything, but there 

 is no juggling with the truth here, and they have been 

 quoted not so much for their intrinsic value, but rather to 

 demonstrate, beyond question, the enormous amount of 

 labour that is entailed in combating even one insect pest 

 in a single country. 



Consider, alongside the figures, the careful packing 

 necessary to keep the little exiles healthy on their long 

 voyage across the Atlantic: each beetle was packed in a 

 separate box, for it was found that if several were packed 

 together they relieved the tedium of their journey by 

 devouring one another. Consider too the work that was, 

 of necessity, expended on the insects in the State insectary 



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