20 
BULLETIN 1397, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
count of the suspicion that the pink bollworm or some other de- 
structive pest might have been introduced in the meantime. Accord- 
ingly arrangements were made in L916 to dispatch an agent to Mex- 
ico. Shortly before the time fixed for his departure the activities 
of the bandits became so great that the trip had to be postponed 
indefinitely. If it had not been for these circumstances the presence 
of the pink bollworm in Mexico would have been known some months 
before it actually came to the attention of the department 
On November 1, 1916, the department received from a planter in 
the Laguna district, who was then residing in Mexico City, a number 
of specimens of cotton bolls which had been attacked by insects. The 
sender was under the impression that the insect was the boll weevil, 
which, though introduced in the Laguna on numerous occasions, had, 
on account of climatic conditions, never been able to maintain itself. 
Several of the bolls were found to be infested by the boll weevil, but 
others showed the presence of the pink bollworm. The determina- 
tion w T as first made by W. D. Pierce and confirmed by August Busck 
and other specialists of the Bureau of Entomology. 
On November 3, 1916, the situation was considered by the Federal 
Horticultural Board, and on November 4 an amendment to the 
regulations, extending the quarantine to cottonseed and cotton from 
Mexico, was issued by the department. An investigation was imme- 
diately started to determine the extent of the infestation in Mexico 
and the number of shipments of cottonseed from that country to the 
United States. It was soon found that a large quantity of Mexican 
cottonseed had been shipped to mills in Texas during the season of 
1916. In previous years no Mexican cottonseed had been shipped 
to the United States, and it was only the disturbed conditions in 
Mexico and the unprecedentedly high price of seed in the United 
States that caused the seed mentioned to be forwarded to this 
country. 
In 1916 a total of 44(1 carloads of Mexican seed had been brought 
into Texas prior to November 4, all of which went to the mills at 
Beaumont, Pearsall. Kaufman, Hearne. San Antonio, Houston, 
Dallas, Wolfe City, New Braunfels, Grand View, and Alice. The 
quantities varied from 1 carload, which went to Wolfe City, to 114 
carloads, which went to Beaumont. Ninety-three carloads were 
shipped to Hearne and 69 to Kaufman, both located in regions where 
cotton is cultivated on every plantation. The State authorities in 
Texas were notified and the Federal Horticultural Board began a 
campaign to expedite the crushing of the seed and the destruction 
of any scattered seeds about the premises. The cooperation with 
the State was brought about by Fred Davis, commissioner of agri- 
culture, the entomologist of his department, E. E. Scholl, and the 
chief nursery inspector, E. L. Avers. 
DISCOVERY IN TEXAS 
As the result of field examinations, the first specimen of the pink 
bollworm in Texas was discovered in Hearne on September 10. 1917, 
by Ivan Schiller, an inspector of the hoard. This was found in a 
small field adjoining the oil mill which had received Mexican cotton- 
seed. Later four additional specimens were found, none of them 
more than one-fourth of a mile from the mill. On October 5 a 
