﻿20 BULLETIN 1397, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICTJLTUEE 



count of the suspicion, that the pink boUworm or some other de- 

 structive pest might have been introduced in the meantime. Accord- 

 ingly arrangements were made in 1916 to dispatch an agent to Mex- 

 ico. Shortly before the time fixed for his departure the activities 

 of the bandits became so great that the trip had to be postponed 

 indefinitely. If it had not been for these circumstances the presence 

 of the pink bollworm in Mexico would have been known some months 

 before it actually came to the attention of the department. 



On November 1, 1916, the department received from a planter in 

 the Laguna district, who was then residing in Mexico City, a number 

 of specimens of cotton bolls which had been attacked by insects. The 

 sender was under the impression that the insect was the boll weevil, 

 which, though introduced in the Laguna on numerous occasions, had, 

 on account of climatic conditions, never been able to maintain itself. 

 Several of the bolls were found to be infested by the boll weevil, but 

 others showed the presence of the pink bollworm. The determina- 

 tion was first made by W. D. Pierce and confirmed by August Busck 

 and other specialists of the Bureau of Entomology. 



On November 3, 1916, the situation was considered by the Federal 

 Horticultural Board, and on November 4 an amendment to the 

 regulations, extending the quarantine to cottonseed and cotton from 

 Mexico, was issued by the department. An investigation was imme- 

 diately started to determine the extent of the infestation in Mexico 

 and the number of shipments of cottonseed from that country to the 

 United States. It was soon found that a large quantity of Mexican 

 cottonseed had been shipped to mills in Texas during the season of 

 1916. In previous years no Mexican cottonseed had been shipped 

 to the United States, and it was only the disturbed conditions in 

 Mexico and the unprecedentedly high price of seed in the United 

 States that caused the seed mentioned to be forwarded to this 

 country. 



In 1916 a total of 446 carloads of Mexican seed had been brought 

 into Texas prior to November 4, all of which went to the mills at 

 Beaumont, Pearsall, Kaufman, Heame, San Antonio, Houston, 

 Dallas, Wolfe City, New Braunfels, Grand View, and Alice. The 

 quantities varied from 1 carload, which went to Wolfe City, to 114 

 carloads, which went to Beaumont. Ninetj-three carloads were 

 shipped to Hearne and 69 to Kaufman, both located in regions where 

 cotton is cultivated on every plantation. The State authorities in 

 Texas were notified and the Federal Horticultural Board began a 

 campaign to expedite the crushing of the seed and the destruction 

 of any scattered seeds about the premises. The cooperation with 

 the State was brought about by Fred Davis, commissioner of agri- 

 culture, the entomologist of his department, E. E. Scholl, and the 

 chief nursery inspector, E. L. Ayers. 



DISCOVERY IN TEXAS 



As the result of field examinations, the first specimen of the pink 

 bollworm in Texas was discovered in Hearne on September 10, 1917, 

 by Ivan Schiller, an inspector of the board. This was found in a 

 small field adjoining the oil mill which had received Mexican cotton- 

 seed. Later four additional specimens were found, none of them 

 more than one-fourth of a mile from the mill. On October 5 a 



