LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washmgton, D. C, May 1, 1905. 

 Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscripts of sev- 

 eral articles and shorter notes, none of which are of such a nature as 

 to justify their publication at this time in separate form. The matter 

 presented is similar to that which has been published in seven earlier 

 bulletins, and I recommend its publication under the title " Miscella- 

 neous Results of the Work of the Bureau of Entomology — VIII," 

 as Bulletin 54 of this Bureau. The initial article on the sugar-cane 

 beetle i& a report of an investigation conducted during 1904, which 

 was made necessary by the fact that the insect in question had received 

 practically no attention at the hands of entomologists for a quarter of 

 a century. The suggestion as to remedies will, it is hoped, be found 

 useful to sugar planters of the South. The report on " Conchuela," a 

 cotton pest of Mexico, contains an account of investigations conducted 

 because of an unusual outbreak during the year, which afforded the 

 possibility of a thorough study of this insect. It may be in time a 

 dangerous enemy to cotton cultivation in Texas, and possibly in other 

 near-by States in which it also occurs. The sugar-beet crown borer 

 lias not previously been detected injuring sugar beet or other useful 

 plants. The dock false-worm, considered in the next article, is also 

 new as a pest, as is the pepper weevil, so far as regards published rec- 

 ords. Eveiything points to the accidental introduction of the weevil 

 from Mexico. The article on cold storage for cowpeas is of value for 

 obvious reasons, one of which is that the experiments reported have 

 been conducted over a considerable period and the cost of this method 

 of treating seeds has been definitely ascertained; it is also shown that 

 the vitality of the seed is not injured by treatment. The larger canna 

 leaf -roller and pond-lily leaf -beetle have been unusually destructive 

 during the year, and have not previously been treated in any publica- 

 tions of this Department. The report on the grasshopper conditions 

 of the West shows that grasshoppers have been, on the whole, very 

 much less destructive during the year 1904 than is usual. It also 



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