924 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1148 



cost of printing, a charge that must he con- 

 sidered merely nominal when it is realized that 

 the cost of an edition of the printed map may 

 be only a small percentage of the cost of sur- 

 veying the area it represents. The government 

 itself is making a large and increasing use of 

 these topographic maps, but the expenditure of 

 public funds for these surveys is otherwise 

 fully warranted only as the public uses the 

 maps. To promote this use, the survey has re- 

 cently given more attention to the wider dis- 

 tribution of the maps. 



The distribution of a government map is 

 largely a problem of publicity, though the ne- 

 cessity of adopting commercial business meth- 

 ods in handling orders for the maps when once 

 a demand is created must not be overlooked. 

 In informing the public of the existence of 

 authoritative maps published by the federal 

 government a special effort is now made to 

 reach the communities in each area covered 

 by a map, and to this end every map as issued 

 is brought to the attention of the local and 

 state press, as well as of postmasters and 

 school-teachers. 



Other methods of promoting wider distribu- 

 tion involve the cooperation of boy-scout mas- 

 ters, schoolboys and hotel managers, as well as 

 of a large number of bookstores as local agents. 



"Within the last year the most helpful pub- 

 licity has been gained through the voluntary 

 cooperation of several press services and mag- 

 azines of large circulation, in connection with 

 their policy of bringing the people into closer 

 touch with the work and publications of the 

 federal government. The publication in one 

 magazine of a brief statement regarding the 

 Geological Survey's maps resulted within a 

 month in orders for 550 maps and thousands 

 of inquiries for the state indexes that show the 

 areas already mapped. 



The periods of maximum demand for these 

 governments maps are the beginning of the 

 vacation period and the beginning of the 

 school year. The larger use of topographic 

 maps in 1915-16, both in the open and in the 

 classroom, is a gratifying index of the popular 

 benefit already resulting from the increase in 

 the work of publicity. 



A NEW INSECT ENEMY OF THE PEACH 



An insect destructive to the peach and kin- 

 dred fruits, believed to be new in the United 

 States, has been discovered by entomologists 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in the 

 District of Columbia and its environs. This 

 insect, which in its adult form is a brownish 

 moth and in its larval stage a small white and 

 pink caterpillar, attacks both the tender shoots 

 and fruit, causing serious losses. 



Because of the habits of the worm, the usual 

 control measures, such as spraying with cer- 

 tain arsenates, will probably not be effective. 

 The smooth young shoots, owing to their rapid 

 growth, are protected by the poison solution 

 for only a very short time after the spray is 

 applied, and hence it is almost impossible to 

 poison them. The entomologists of the de- 

 partment who have been investigating the pest, 

 will continue to study it in the hope of de- 

 veloping control measures. 



The insect, known to science as Laspeyresia 

 molesta, is believed to have been introduced 

 from Japan. So far as the department's ento- 

 mologists know, it has not been found in 

 America other than in the District of Colum- 

 bia and in the adjoining territory in Mary- 

 land and Virginia. The specialists are de- 

 sirous of knowing if the insect has attacked 

 peach, plum or cherry trees elsewhere in the 

 United States. 



The presence of the insect can best be de- 

 termined in most cases by the nature of its 

 injury to peach trees. It bores into practically 

 every tender twig and causes new shoots to 

 push out from lateral buds. These are at- 

 tacked in turn, the abnormal stimulation of 

 lateral growth producing a much branched 

 and bushy plant. A copious flow of gum from 

 the twig-ends often follows the attacks of the 

 caterpillars. 



In attacking fruit the young caterpillars 

 generally eat through the skin at or near the 

 point of attachment of the fruit stem. The 

 larva, as it grows, makes its way to the pit, 

 where it feeds on the flesh, which soon be- 

 comes much discolored and more or less slimy. 

 Larvse entering at the side of the fruit are 

 more likely to eat out pockets or cavities in the 

 flesh. The full-grown caterpillar spins a whit- 



