l8 Bernice P. Bishop Mnseuiit — Bulletin 



introduced a fungus that proved destructive to the beetle under wet sur- 

 roundings (175), but unfortunately it appeared immune to this disease 

 in the drier portions of the islands. During 1900 the Japanese beetles were 

 reported (215) from the island of Hawaii, thus extending their range 

 throughout the group, injuring the foliage of a large variety of cultivated 

 trees and other plants. 



It is reported that previous to 1898, all forms of melons, cucumbers and 

 squashes could be grown in Hawaii with comparative ease. About this 

 time a new pest that has come to be known as the melon fly (Dacus cucur- 

 bitae Coq.) began to make itself felt. Mr. Byron O. Clark who was the 

 first to observe the flies said that they made their appearance during the 

 summer of 1897 and that by 1898 and 1899 the melon industry was prac- 

 tically destroyed. The first published reference to the subject is in the 

 form of correspondence printed in a weekly newspaper in Honolulu. The 

 original is now almost unobtainable and so it is fortunate that the complete 

 account has been reproduced in at least two scientific papers dealing with 

 this serious pest. (See 184.) 



DEVELOPMENT OF QUARANTINE SYSTEM 



The entrance of so many noxious pests naturally stimulated a desire to 

 shut out further introductions of these undesirable immigrants. During 

 the reign of King Kalakua we find the beginning of this system in an 

 Act dated July 16, 1890, relating to the suppression of plant diseases, blights, 

 and insect pests (134). Again, in 1892, similar regulations were adopted 

 in an Act to establish a Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry (139). 



No one recognized the need of such regulations better than Professor 

 A. Koebele who had devoted many years to a study of these organisms in 

 various parts of the world. As official entomologist of the Hawaiian 

 islands, in a letter (191) to Dr. Maxwell, who was special agent of the 

 United States here at the time, he said. 



Strict attention should be paid towards guarding against the introduction of 

 melolontids. claterid beetles, etc., destructive to living roots of plants, as well as 

 to any fungoid diseases destructive to vegetation that are liable to reach the islands 

 with soil or plants imported. 



From these begimiings has grown up the efficient quarantine system 

 that we find in the islands today. 



