THE PINK BOLLWORM. 21 
DISCOVERY IN MEXICO. 
Earlier in this bulletin attention has been directed to the fact that 
when the quarantine against foreign cotton seed was placed in 
operation the State of Lower California, Mexico, was not included, 
and that subsequently cotton seed was permitted entry, for milling 
purposes only, from certain northern States of Mexico. The reason 
for this was that several of the entomologists of the department had 
been in northern Mexico and had found no traces of infestation by 
any insects other than those which are known to occur in the United 
States. These explorations were made some years ago, however, and 
it was still thought desirable to have new examinations made on ac- 
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 1916 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 j)resence 
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, 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 
never been able to maintain itself on account of climatic conditions. 
Several of the bolls were found to be infested by the boll weevil, but 
others showed the presence of the pink bollworm. The determination 
was first made by Dr. W. D. Pierce and confirmed by Mr. 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 1 an amendment to the 
regulations extending the quarantine to cotton seed 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 cotton seed from that country to the 
L T nited States. It was soon found that a large amount of Mexican 
cotton seed had been shipped to mills in Texas during the season of 
1916. In previous years no Mexican cotton seed had been shipped 
to the United States, and it was only the disturbed conditions in 
Mexico and the unprecedented high price of seed in the United States 
which caused the seed mentioned to be forwarded to the United 
States. 
It was found that a total of 116 carloads of Mexican seed had en- 
tered the L T nited States during 1916 prior to November 4. These car- 
