97 



Little girls and ladies own pet lizards; boys and gardeners kill them. 



Next fall I expect to be able to report on other groups of lizards. My 

 efforts to introduce them as insect destroyers have failed because towns 

 have not been willing to protect them and destroy their enemies, while 

 private individuals could not protect them. — Winnie Harwaed, 

 Albuquerque, N, Mex. 



ON THE RECENT SPREAD OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH. 



Since the first reported invasion of flour mills by Ephestia latehniella 

 in Ontario, Canada, in the year 1889, the spread of this species in North 

 America has been fortunately comparatively slow. There is no doubt 

 that its further dissemination has been prevented largely through the 

 many notices of its injuriousuess and of the precautions to be used 

 against it that have been published in scientific periodicals and other 

 publications, and the progress that has been made in methods for the 

 insect's suppression. It is equally positive that the insect had been 

 present in this country, and in each of the several localities where it 

 was first reported as injurious, some years previous to the dates spec- 

 ified, as it requires usually several years for almost any species of in- 

 sect to become seriously injurious in a new locality. As an example of 

 this it is only necessary to cite the observation of Danysz, who traced 

 the occurrence of this flour moth in America back to the year 1880, 

 nine years before its reported occurrence in injurious abundance here. 



The recorded spread of this species after the first Canadian invasion 

 mentioned is, in brief, as follows: In 1892 it first became destructive 

 about San Francisco, Cal., and is very troublesome there and elsewhere 

 in that State even at the present time, in spite of the most approved 

 methods that have been devised and put in use for its destruction. 

 In 1893 its occurrence was noticed, though not in flouring mills, at 

 Loveland, Colo., on honeycomb, the larvae seeming to feed on pollen in 

 the cells (C. P. Gillette, Bui. No. 47, Colo. Agl. Expt. Sta., pp. 50, 51). 



In May, 1895, its appearance was noted in mills in southwestern New 

 York State, presumably near the Pennsylvania State line. Although 

 the locality has not, to my knowledge, been published, correspondence 

 between the miller and Prof. W. Gr. Johnson, who first reported this 

 outbreak in a milling journal in May, 1895, elicited the information 

 that the species had been present in that locality at least since 1893. 

 Later the species occurred in Pennsylvania. In both these localities it 

 was injurious in flouring mills. 



Very recently the pest has been discovered in Ohio, in Stark County, 

 as well as in various new localities in States where the species has been 

 previously observed. These localities have been given by Professor 

 Johnson in recent publications. 



We have now to record the occurrence and probable establishment of 

 this pest in Minnesota, in the very center of the most extensive milling 

 plants in this or any country. 

 11608— No. 22 7 



