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In the Southeast, weather conditions wore favorable during the fall and 
winter of 1938 for the screwworm to "build up and overwinter in Florida and southern 
Georgia. Reports of screwworm cases during the -inter months were received from 
Cook, Ben Hill, Bacon, Lowndes, and Ware Counties in Georgia, and "'inter cases 
were more or less general over Florida, except in the extreme western part. The 
pest "began spreading northward and westward early in the spring. In Tift County, 
Ga. , cases were reported the first week in April and in Clinch and Brooks Counties 
heavy infestations were reported in April and May. Later in the summer practically 
the entire St a te was infested and many cases occurred in South Carolina, particular 
ly in the coastal region. In -the upper Coastal Plains and in the Piedmont section 
the pest was less abundant than during previous years when it was present in the 
State, Alabama was also very generally infested and considerable loss was sus- 
tained especially in the southeastern third of the State, Ho cases were reported 
from North Carolina or Tennessee, 
All are agreed that the screwworm was more abundant and destructive in 
Florida, Georgia, hnd the lower Coastal ‘Plains -of South Carolina than during the 
three preceding years. Many stock owners compared the infestation to the extreme 
one which existed in 1934 and 1935 * A number of complaints were received from 
Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina of depredations of the screwworm on wildlife, 
particularly deer. (F. C. Bishopp, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 
U. S. D. A.) 
AMERICAN DOG TICK 
In general, the American dog tick ( Pcrmacentor variabilis Say) appeared to bl- 
ab out normal in abundance in the Eastern States, during# 1939* r nme areas it was 
reported to be much less numerous than during the previous year, but in others it 
was clearly more abundant. On Cape Cod and on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., the adult r 
of this tick wore from two to f ke times as numerous at the peak of the season in 
May and June 1939 as in 1936, although activity of adult ticks ceased somewhat 
earlier in 1939 than in 1938 , 
Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is transmitted by this tick in the 
central and eastern parts of the country, showed a distinct increase, according 
to reports published by the United States Public Health Service in Public Health 
Reports. The number of cases for the entire season of 1938 in the States where 
this tick is the dominant carrier was 242, as compared with 347 in 1939 , a P to the 
wO‘ k ended December 7« The increase in the number of reported cases in Now York 
(2 in 1938 to 10 in 1939), Pennsylvania (2 to 15 ), and Maryland (42 to 68 ) is 
particularly striking. The number of cases reported in the Western States, whore 
the principal carrier is D. andersoni Stiles, al&o showed an increase, from 118 in 
1932 to 169 in 1939 • Eow data regarding the relative abundance of this tick are at 
hand. (F. C. Bishopp, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U. S. D. A.) 
