REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOL- 
OGY AND PLANT QUARANTINE, AGRICULTURAL 
RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION, 1949 
HEADLINES FOR THE YEAR 
The Bureau's war against insect pests and plant diseases progressed 
during the year. New insecticides and new methods of applying in- 
secticides were developed. Improvements in equipment, particularly 
for the utilization of aircraft in large-scale operations, greatly aided 
control programs. New treatments were authorized to expedite 
the movement of plant products under quarantine regulations, and 
more adequate protection against foreign pests was provided through 
a revision of regulations governing the importation of plant material. 
Compounds similar to the insecticidal principle of pyrethrum flowers 
were synthesized by Bureau chemists, and some of them were more 
toxic to flies than pyrethrum. If the commercial production of any 
of these compounds proves successful, it will give us, through chem- 
istry, a substitute for a plant material of wide importance in insect 
control and for which we have been entirely dependent on foreign 
sources. 
Two new insecticides, methoxychlor and lindane, were recommended 
for fly control in dairy barns and other buildings where milk is 
handled, to meet the Food and Drug Administration's objection to the 
use of DDT for this purpose. 
Several new organic phosphorus compounds were found to be even 
more effective than tetraethyl pyrophosphate when used in aerosols to 
combat aphids and mites in greenhouses. 
New baits and new equipment for distributing them were used in 
1949 to combat the widespread grasshopper outbreaks in the Middle 
West and the West. 
New methods and equipment for disinfesting aircraft were de- 
veloped and tested in planes operating out of Honolulu. 
A method was devised for treating cotton bags to keep insects out 
of flour and other cereal products packed in them. 
The regulations issued under the nursery stock, plants, and seed 
quarantine were revised to provide for the growing of certain plants 
under observation in post-entry quarantine long enough to determine 
their apparent freedom from pests not discernible by inspection. 
Before an insecticide is recommended for use against any insect pest, 
its effect on the treated plants or animals and on the health of the 
consumer, as well as the hazards of handling, should be determined. 
