l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



attractive poisoned bait was developed by M. J. Forsell of Seattle, 

 Washington, who, at the suggestion of the present writer, attacked 

 the problem through the weevil's sense of smell. In the preliminary 

 experiments dried ground apples were found to be the most attractive 

 substance tested, and magnesium arsenate was the most satisfactory 

 poison. It is further claimed that the discovery and perfection of this 

 bait marks an important horticultural step in the fruit industry of 

 the State of Washington, as these weevils had become so serious in 

 many places that the strawberry-growing industry seemed doomed. 



Melander and Spuler (51) report their results concerning the 

 poison-bait remedy for the strawberry-root weevils in Washington, 

 They say that these destructive weevils can be satisfactorily, economi- 

 cally, and practically controlled by the distribution of a poisoned bait 

 immediately at the close of the berry harvest. This bait consists of sun 

 or oven dried sliced apples, ground into pulp or granules, to which 

 an arsenical is added, magnesium arsenate being the most satisfactory. 

 The bait is broadcast over the strawberry plants at the rate of about 

 70 pounds per acre. 



Mote and Wilcox (57) tell about the bait method used in Oregon. 

 They remark that a homemade bait consisting of 95 pounds of ground 

 dried apple waste, mixed with 5 pounds of calcium arsenate, kills the 

 strawberry-root weevils. A commercial bait is also reported to be 

 efficient. 



Downes (13) further experimented with baits for strawberry-root 

 weevils. He states that apple waste containing about 20 per cent of 

 moisture was found more attractive than super-dried bait, and that 

 sodium fluosilicate was the most suitable poison to use with apples 

 containing that percentage of moisture. Two applications of the bait 

 are recommended, the first in April and the second in June. 



(c) BAITS FOR THE JAPANESE BEETLE 



A study of the chemotaxis of the Japanese beetle was begun in 

 1922 at the Japanese Beetle Laboratory in New Jersey, and since that 

 date several persons have worked on it, but some of them have never 

 received credit in the published papers on this subject. This is par- 

 ticularly true of F. J. Brinley, who did the work in 1923 and dis- 

 covered that geraniol was the most important attractant used. Rich- 

 mond and the present writer continued the work in 1924, the former 

 doing the field-work and the latter the laboratory work. Some of 

 Richmond's results have been published, but since those of the writer 

 were only preliminary they still remain unpubli.shed. 



