428 ENTOMOLOGY 



practical extermination of the fluted scale (Icerya purchasi), which 

 threatened to put an end to the cultivation of citrus trees in California. 

 This disaster was averted by the importation from Australia, in 1888, of 

 a native enemy of the scale, namely the lady-bird beetle Novius (Vedalia) 

 cardinalis, which, in less than eighteen months after its introduction 

 into California, subjugated the noxious scale insect. The United States 

 has since sent Novius to South Africa, Egypt and Portugal with similar 

 beneficial results. 



The Department of Agriculture succeeded in starting a new and im- 

 portant industry in California the culture of the Smyrna fig. The 

 superior flavor of this variety is due to the presence of ripe seeds, in other 

 words, to fertilization, and for this it is necessary for pollen of the wild 

 fig, or "caprifig," to be transferred to the flowers of the Smyrna fig. 

 Normally this pollination, or " caprification," is dependent upon the serv- 

 ices of a minute chalcid, Blastophaga grossorum, which develops in the 

 gall-like flowers of the caprifig. The female insect, which in this excep- 

 tional instance is winged while the male is not, emerges from the gall 

 covered with pollen, enters the young flowers of the Smyrna fig to ovi- 

 posit, and incidentally pollenizes them. 



After many discouraging attempts, Blastophaga, imported from 

 Algeria, was established in California, and the new industry has devel- 

 oped rapidly. 



Based upon the foundation laid by Riley, the work of the Bureau 

 of Entomology has steadily progressed, under the leadership of Dr. 

 Leland O. Howard. With a comprehensive and firm grasp of his sub- 

 ject, alert to discover and develop new possibilities, energetic and 

 resourceful in management, Dr. Howard has brought the government 

 work in applied entomology to its present position of commanding 

 importance. Admirably organized, the Bureau now (1922) requires 

 the services of 460 employes, 386 of whom are directly engaged in 

 scientific work. 



In the magnitude and importance of its contributions to economic 

 entomology the Bureau is unapproached by any other organization. 



The Bureau of Entomology has always secured the services of the 

 best entomologists available, and its staff of experts includes many of 

 the leading entomologists of the world. Those in charge of the work 

 are as follows: Dr. L. 0. Howard, entomologist and chief of bureau. 

 C. L. Marlatt, entomologist and assistant chief of bureau. W. D. 

 Hunter, southern field crop insect investigations. W. R. Walton, 

 cereal and forage insect investigations. Prof. A. L. Quaintance, decidu- 



