A'^'O./^ :'?38r 
Bur. Ent. & P. Q. Issued November 1939 
United States Department of Agriculture 
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE 
SERVICE AND REGULATORY ANNOUNCEMENTS 
LIST OF INTERCEPTED PLANT PESTS, 1938 
(List of Pests Recorded During the Period July 1, 1937, to June 30, 1938, 
Inclusive, as Intercepted in, on, or with Plants and Plant Products Entering 
United States Territory.) 
INTRODUCTION 
This paper covers the twenty-fifth year for which pest interception lists have 
been issued. The periods of time covered by the early mimeographed lists were 
variable. The first printed lists were issued quarterly beginning in 1915. A 
large part of the interceptions recorded in the earh* lists were made by State 
inspectors. After quarantine No. 37 became effective and most of the nursery 
stock inspection work was done by Federal inspectors, with a consequent increase 
in the proportion of mterceptions by them, publication of the list was put on an 
annual basis. The first of the annual lists, however, covered 15 months, October 
1, 1919, to December 31, 1920. Interceptions for the calendar 3'ears 1924 and 
1925 were issued in one list, and the list was i)ut on a fiscal-year basis again when 
interceptions for January 1, 1930. to June 30, 1931, were published in one list. 
From the beginning interceptions have been made on a wide variety of hosts 
from all parts of the world. The number of interceptions made increased from 
less than 1,500 a year to more than 80,000 a year, even though many records 
formerly included were omitted from the later lists. During recent years it has 
been necessary to reduce drastically the recording of interceptions and to make 
brief summaries only for a large part of those recorded. It is believed that the 
records as a whole give a reasonably accurate idea of the pest status of the plant 
material inspected. 
In the method of selecting and presenting data the present list is similar to the 
preceding one, tjut the total number of interceptions has been markedly reduced 
b}' eliminating many items formerly recorded, particularly at the port of New 
York. Information on which the list is based is on file in the Washington office. 
The bulk of this information is in the form of routine reports from regular em- 
ployees and from State and customs officials who are collaborators of the Bureau. 
While the States of California and Florida and the Territory of Hawaii have 
staffs of specialists to make their determinations, most of the insects intercepted 
elsewhere are determined by specialists of the Bureau, and many of the more 
difficult plant-disease interceptions are determined by specialists of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry. 
Statements as to the origin of plant materials inspected cannot always be veri- 
fied, but every reasonable effort is made to obtain the correct origin. Obviously 
doubtful items are omitted from the lists of interceptions under the countries of 
alleged origi :. 
NOTES ON INSECTS INTERCEPTED 
FRUITFLIES 
The following fruittlies were intercepted: Anastrepha distincta in higa sp. from 
Mexico: A. grandis in pumpkin from Brazil: Mexican fruitfly {A. ludens) in apple, 
avocado, grapefruit, mango, orange, pomegranate, quince, sapote, sour orange, 
and sweet Imie from Mexico; .4. inomhi'tipraeoptans in mango and purple mombin 
from the Dominican Republic, mango from Haiti, and jobo de la India and mango 
from Puerto Rico: A. serpentiita in mamey, sapote, and tangerine from Mexico; 
^4. suspensa in guava from Puerto Rico; Anastrepha sp. in orange from Brazil, 
guava and mango from Costa Rica, almond, hog-plum, guava, and mango from 
Cuba; star-apple from Ecuador, mango from Haiti, Honduras, and Jamaica, 
apple, guava, mamey, mango, orange, peach, pear, pomegranate, quince, sapote, 
170?. 1 4— 39 — 1 1 
