BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE 
13 
CANNING PLANTS 
The year saw a rapid development of the citrus-canning industry in the Rio 
Grande' Valley, 1,627.7 equivalent carloads of grapefruit being canned. This 
development has added the new responsibility of seeing that all canning-plant 
debris is properly sterilized or buried. 
To sterilize this waste material thoroughly, it was necessary to furnish tech- 
nical assistance in the development of specialized equipment. Steam equipmenl 
that brings the mass of fruit rinds to 145 F°. or above quickly and cheaply was 
devised. This type of equipment is now generally installed in all canning plants 
operating in this area. 
ACTIVITIES IN MEXICO 
As in previous years, one full-time inspector, with a laborer, has been stationed 
in Matamoros and one part-time inspector has been employed in Reynosa, Mex- 
ico. The duties of these inspectors are to inspect locally grown fruit and fruit 
brought from the interior for local consumption, to operate traps, and to spray 
infested properties whenever necessary. 
These operations have been carried on throughout the year with the result 
that, in spite of infested fruit being shipped into the markets almost daily, no 
local larval infestations have developed and none has developed within the 
last 3 years. Table 5 gives in detail the results of trapping and fruit inspection 
in Mexico. 
Table 5. — Adults of Anastrepha spp. trapped and larvae of the same collected 
in Mexico, fiscal year 1936 
Adults trapped 
Larvae collected 
Location 
Anas- 
trepha 
ludens 
Anas- 
trepha 
aci- 
dusa 
Anas- 
trepha 
serpen- 
tina 
Anas- 
trepha 
species 
Y 
Anas- 
trepha 
pallens 
Toxo- 
try- 
pana 
curvi- 
cauda 
Anas- 
trepha 
ludens 
Anas- 
trepha 
aci- 
dusa 
Anas- 
trepha 
serpen- 
tina 
Anas- 
trepha 
striata 
Total 
Matamoros .. 
25 
2 
11 
23 
3 

1 
2 



3 
14 
1 

15 
12 
1 
1 
317 

3 

9 
3,570 

1,089 

2,856 

14 

8 

4 

3 



6,491 
Matamoros brush.. 
7 
1,120 
Reynosa brush 
369 
Total 
61 
6 
3 
30 
331 
12 
4,659 
2,870 
12 
3 
7,987 
In addition to the regular work carried on in the border cities of Matamoros 
and Reynosa, trapping operations were inaugurated in the brush lands south 
of the river. These traps were placed from 25 to 75 miles south of the border 
for the purpose of determining whether fruitflies were present in the brush at 
the time they were being caught in Texas groves. 
These trapping observations soon demonstrated that Anastrepha ludens and 
the other species of fruitflies generally taken in the valley were also present 
in the brush lands of northern Mexico many miles distant from any known 
hosts. 
ROAD TRAFFIC INSPECTION 
For the purpose of enforcing quarantine regulations, a road traffic inspection 
station, operated on a 24-hour basis, was established at the Brooks County line 
on the Edinburg-Falfurrias highway on October 12, 1935, and continued through 
March 11, 1936. It is estimated that 97 percent of the fruit hauled out of the 
valley by truck passes over the Edinburg-Falfurrias highway. However, to 
discourage violations of quarantine regulations by truckers who mighl take 
the longer route by way of Rio Grande City and Laredo, a road traffic inspec- 
tion station was opened at Rio Grande City with one inspector on duty whoso 
hours were staggered so as to subject road traffic to possible Inspection at any 
hour of the day or night. No violations of quarantine regulations were encoun- 
tered at the Rio Grande City road station, so it was nor deemed necessary to 
increase the manpower at this station at any time during the past shipping 
season. The Rio Grande City road station was opened on November 14 and 
closed on February 29. Details of road traffic inspection through the Edin- 
burg-Falfurrias road traffic inspection station are shown in tabic 6. 
