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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
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Washington, D. C. T June, 1926 
THE PINK BOLLWORM, 1 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO STEPS TAKEN BY 
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO PREVENT ITS ESTABLISHMENT 
IN THE UNITED STATES. 2 
By W. D. Hunter, 3 Senior Entomologist, in Charge of Southern Field-Crop 
Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology, and Member of the Federal 
Horticultural Board. 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Historical 1 
Original home 2 
Present range , 3 
Present distribution in Mexico 4 
Description and life history 5 
Natural enemies . 12 
Nature and extent of damage 12 
Damage in Mexico 14 
Precautions taken to prevent the in- 
troduction of the pink bollworm 
into the United States 16 
Page 
Discovery in Mexico 19 
Discovery in Texas 20 
Organization of the preventive work 
of the Department of Agriculture- 22 
Chronological summary of infesta- 
tions 23 
Scouting outside of known infested 
districts 25 
Present status 27 
Literature cited 29 
HISTORICAL 
In 1842 the superintendent of the Government cotton plantations 
at Broach, India, sent specimens of a very destructive cotton insect 
to the distinguished English entomologist, W. W. Saunders. The 
specimens were described as a new species, Depressaria (now Pec- 
tinophora) gossypiella* by Saunders in a paper presented to the 
Entomological Society of London on June 6, 1842 (18). 4 This is the 
first published record concerning the insect which is now attracting 
so much attention in the principal cotton-producing countries of 
the world. 
For 61 years after the publication of Saunders' description no 
published statement regarding the pink bollworm was issued. In 
1904, however, an article was issued by J. Vosseler (20) regarding 
the great injury caused by the insect in German East Africa. YVith- 
1 Peetinophora gossi/piella Saunders : order Lepidoptera. family Gelechiidae. 
2 This bulletin supersedes Department Bulletin 723, issued under the same title in 
1918. 
3 Died October 13, 192.1, The manuscript of this bulletin had its final revision by the 
author June 22, 1925. 
*■ Numbers (italic) in parentheses refer to " Literature cited," p. 29. 
72237°— 26 1 
