94 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, 



This was introduced on pear stocks from France into Union County, N. 

 J. It has killed hundreds of trees, and if we have succeeded in checking 

 its progress, at present, the danger was for a time a real one. Could this 

 insect have been excluded by inspection ? In the first place it works only 

 beneath the bark of the tree. It makes no opening outwardly and the 

 young borer produces practically no effect upon the appearance of the 

 bark. There was nothing on the outside of these trees to indicate the 

 presence of a borer underneath the bark. How could it have been dis- 

 covered unless the bark of each tree had been actually cut into, and how 

 could one be sure that the portion actually cut would reveal the presence 

 of a borer if one existed ? I claim that it would be impossible to discover 

 insects of this kind by any method of ordinary inspection. The Sinuate 

 Borer could come in in spite of the inspection provided by the act of Con- 

 gress. In fact, this illustrates a class of cases: Insects that work between 

 the bark and wood of young trees in such a way as to cause no outward 

 sign, simply, cannot be discovered by ordinary inspection. 



According to an amendment adopted at the request of the florists — 

 florist's plants are exempt from inspection and from the requirements of 

 a certificate: but are florist's plants not likely to introduce injurious in- 

 sects? Roses are florist's plants; the brown-tail moth, which recently 

 appeared in destructive numbers in Massachusetts, is said to have been 

 imported on rose plants. I do not know how true this is, but it is quite 

 possible. Take a variety of lepidopterous insects that winter in the pupa 

 state or in cocoons; some of them so closely resemble the bark of the 

 trees that it requires the closest kind of examination to see them. Others 

 conceal themselves under loose bits of bark. Can any inspection be suffi- 

 ciently thorough to make it certain that some little angle among the roots 

 or among the branches does not contain the cocoons of some Tortricid or 

 Tineid ? Moss and similar material is used in packing plants, and every 

 one who has ever collected insects knows that moss shelters an enormous 

 number during the hibernating period. Will it be possible to so examine 

 the packing material around the plants as to make certain that no insects 

 are there ? I doubt whether any package of plants would be found en- 

 tirely free from insects, and if not free are they to be excluded or treated ? 

 How can we tell whether a given insect will live in this country or will not ? 



Consider the horn-fly, which has caused great alarm throughout the 

 United States and a considerable money loss as well. Could that have 

 been excluded ? It does not come within the purview of the act at all. 

 Only plants and fruits are to be examined, and there is nothing that would 

 act as a bar to the introduction of creatures like this horn-fly. 



Root maggots would be almost indiscoverable in many instances, and 

 in the winged stage could not always be destroyed, even if they were 

 recognized, because flies have a habit of getting out of reach in a very 

 exasperating way. In fact, the possibilities of importation under modern 

 commercial circumstances are so great that I do not believe it possible to 

 exclude injurious insects except, possibly, scales. It is always the spe- 



