PESTS INTERCEPTED. 
A box of banana plants arrived from Fiji and according to 
regulations was prohibited from landing. It was interesting to 
find that nearly every plant was infested with the banana borer 
(Sphcnephonis sordidiis) and only goes to show that the regula- 
tion prohibiting banana plants from being admitted is a very wise 
one. 
On a shipment of plants from Hongkong we found some leaf 
rollers in larvae and pupae and destroyed the plants. We. are 
keeping close watch on all plants from the Orient on account of 
the existence of many lepidopterous pests. Shipments to Cali- 
fornia from Japan were found infested with the Gypsy moth 
which is causing such damage in Massachusetts. Several lots of 
sweet potatoes were taken in the Chinese immigrant baggage on 
account of being infested with the sweet potato borer, Cylas 
fornicarius. 
On July 19th the Br. steamer Makura brought a consignment 
of 5 snakes belonging to a show man. The Collector of Customs 
promptly refused the landing of these and asked your Superin- 
tendent to kill the reptiles. After receiving a written request to 
do so I took charge of the matter and used Hydrocyanic Acid gas 
5 times as strong as is customary and subjected the snakes to the 
fumes for two hours. The Collector has kindly presented the 
Board of Agriculture and Forestry with the snakes for our 
museum and I am preparing them in Formaldehyde for a per- 
manent exhibit. These are the largest snakes ever brought to 
Honolulu, one measuring nearly nine feet. 
From the Inspector at Hilo, the following report was received: 
Seven vessels inspected and a total of 107 lots containing 1194 
parcels were examined and passed. 
On July 18th my new assistant, Mr. H. O. Marsh, arrived. 
Mr. Alarsh has been doing considerable field work for the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture and since his arrival I have been able 
to show him some of the damage done by various pests to our 
truck crops and flowering plants. Mr. Marsh will carry on in- 
vestigations in the field and breeding experiments in the 
laboratory. 
Another shipment of parasite material arrived from Mr. J. P. 
Baumberger from California, but unfortunately the box was 
crushed in the mail, damaging some of the material. Mr. Baum- 
berger has written me that he will soon be able to send us more 
of the cabbage butterfly parasites. 
Very truly yours, 
Edw. M. Ehrhorn, 
Superintendent of Entomology. 
