the attractant for chemical analysis and in developing a detection method 
and control for the cotton pest. 
In field tests made at Torreon, Mexico, incooperation with the Mexican 
Department of Agriculture, the extracted lure provedas effective in attract- 
ing male moths to baited traps as were light traps. Other insect species 
were not attracted to the substance. 
Scientists are now working to identify chemically this natural attractant 
and hope it will lead to the production of a synthetic material that will be 
equally attractive. They believe a synthetic attractant for the pink bollworm 
offers as bright a prospect for future detection measures as gyplure does 
for the gypsy moth. Even if asyntheticis never available, they are confident 
enough material can be extracted from reared female pink bollworm moths 
for detecting the insect and defining the limits of any given infestation. Know- 
ing the limits of an infested area would reduce the cost of control. The ulti- 
mate objective, however, is to utilize suchpowerfullures for direct control. 
Other Sex Lures 
Entomologists in the Agricultural Marketing Service have collected and 
tested a natural attractant produced by unmated female dermestid beetles. 
The substance attracted a high percentage of male beetles and may be useful 
in the development of a trap to lurethe insects. The dermestids are serious 
pests of nonfat dry milk and other stored products. 
Sex attractants have also been reported in other beetles, including the 
May beetle, banded cucumber beetle, mealworms, and several species of 
wireworms. 
Among the Orthoptera, the cockroach produces a powerful sex attractant. 
Scientists working with the Department of Defense at Natick, Massachusetts, 
demonstrated the presence of a specific chemical substance in virgin 
females of the American cockroach which attracts the males. ARS scientists 
investigated ways of collecting the substance and have determined its 
chemical structure. Research is under way in efforts to synthesize the 
material. Such lure, if available in quantity, might be used in traps or in 
other ways as a means to control cockroaches. 
The pine sawfly and the bumblebee among the Hymenoptera and the 
tropical water bug of the Hemiptera also possess sex attractants. 
Other Chemical Attractants and Baits 
A number of chemical compounds are very attractive to specific insects 
and can be used to lure the pests to traps or toxic baits. Extensive use has 
been made of traps painted yellow and baited with a mixture of 9 parts of 
anethole and 1 part of eugenol by volume to obtain information on the dis- 
tribution of the Japanese beetle. 
Methyl eugenol, a chemical compound, is a powerfulattractant to males 
of the oriental fruit fly, a serious pest of tropical fruits. Flies attracted to 
the methyl eugenol, alight on surfaces treated with it, and avidly eat the 
material, In an experiment, a toxic chemical and methyl eugenol were 
mixed, smeared on fiberboard squares, and disseminated by plane over 
14 
