436 



Exhibit of Insect Pests at St. Louis, [oct., 



insects were at the same time submitted. On examination the 

 suspicions as to the identity of the insects were confirmed. 



Considerable difficulty was experienced in tracing the person 

 who left the beetles at the library, but the police, in conjunction 

 with the Board's inspectors, made very searching enquiries, 

 which were eventually successful. It was found that the beetles 

 in question were the sole survivors of a lot of several which had 

 been brought over from the United States as a curiosity to 

 show to relatives and friends, and not with the intention of 

 liberating them ; that no eggs or larvae had been imported ; 

 and that the dangers attending the introduction of the insects 

 into this country had been recognised and guarded against. 



From subsequent enquiries, the Board are satisfied that no 

 further apprehension need be feared in this particular case, 

 though the practice of importing live destructive insects even 

 for perfectly innocent purposes is associated with considerable 

 danger. In the case of the Colorado Beetle severe penalties 

 attach to the keeping of live specimens in this country. 



A section of the U.S.A. Division of Entomology was established 



and organised in 1902 for the purpose of making forest insect 



investigations, its object being to conduct 



Exhibit Of original research, to determine the chief 

 Insect Pests at . 



St. Louis.* enemies 01 forest trees, and especially to 



work out the life-histories, distribution, and 

 natural enemies of such pests. One of the results of the work 

 of this section is a collection of specimens and material made 

 since 1902, which comprises an important part of the Insect 

 Exhibition at St. Louis. The object of the exhibit is to show 

 the character of the destructive work of forest insects, to illus- 

 trate this by means of special examples of the pests themselves, 

 whilst at the same time insects which are beneficial on account 

 of their parasitic or predaceous habits are not omitted. The 

 number of insect specimens in this section amounts to nearly 

 ,800, whilst there are 623 specimens of destructive work and a 



* Bulletin No. 48, U.S.A. Department of Agriculture. 



