1- ** 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 723 
**^i\p=^/Va)r Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 
ajl^y^' L. O. Howard, Chief 
J^Sr "^fi. and the Federal Horticultural Board, C. L. Marlatt, Chairman JVV**^WY. 
Washington, D. C. T August 30, 1918 
THE PINK BOLLWORM 1 WITH SPECIAL REF- 
ERENCE TO STEPS TAKEN BY THE DEPART- 
MENT OF AGRICULTURE TO PREVENT ITS 
ESTABLISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. 
By W. D. Hunter, 
In Charge of Southern Field Crop Insect Investigations and Member of the 
Federal Horticultural Board. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Historical 1 
Original home 2 
Present range 3 
Present distribution in Mexico 5 
Nature and amount of damage 5 
Description and life history 7 
Page. 
Precautions taken to prevent the introduc- 
tion of the pink bollworm into the United 
States 15 
Discovery in Mexico 21 
Discovery in Texas 22 
Present work of the department 25 
Natural enemies 14 Literature cited 27 
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 Pectino- 
phora) gossypiella, by Mr. Saunders in a paper presented to the 
Entomological Society of London on June 6, 1842 (9). 2 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's description no 
published statement regarding the pink bollworm was issued. In 
1904, however, an article was issued by J. Yosseler (10) regarding the 
great injury done by the insect in German East Africa. Within 
1 Pectinophora gossypieUa Saunders ; order Lepidoptera, family Gelechiidae. 
2 Numbers in parentheses refer to " Literature cited," p. 27. 
63886°— Bull. 723—18 1 
