August, ’23] 
NOTES ON MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 
409 
Mr. U. C. Zeluff, stationed at Tampa, Florida, collected oranges on a ship from 
Tampico, Mexico, infested with the Mexican Fruit Fly, Anastrepha ludens Lw. 
Mexican-grown Irish potatoes used as ship’s stores have during the past three 
years been found to contain larvae of an injurious weevil. In April of the present 
year, Mr. Clyde P. Trotter, inspector of the Federal Horticultural Board stationed 
at Galveston, Texas, collected additional larvae of this weevil and in this instance 
adults were reared by Mr. L. L. Spessard and identified by Dr. E. A. Schwarz, of the 
National Museum, as Epicaerus cognatus Sharp. This weevil is not known to' occur 
in the United States and all inspectors engaged in port inspection work should care¬ 
fully examine potatoes for this pest. Infested potatoes are usually found during the 
spring months. Thus far it has been impossible to determine definitely the exact 
origin of the potatoes, although they are usually taken on board at Vera Cruz, Mexico. 
Mr. H. B. Shaw, in charge of the work of the Federal Horticultural Board at New 
York City, reports the following incident as demonstrating the necessity for close 
supervision of prohibited plant products brought to a port of the United States en- 
route to a foreign country: 
845 sacks of cotton seed infested with larvae of the Pink Bollworm, Pectinophora 
gossypiella Saund., recently arrived at New York from Porto Rico for trans-shipment 
to England. The presence of the Pink Bollworm in the cotton seed not only necessi¬ 
tated the cleaning of the hold of the vessel which brought the cotton seed to New 
York, but also the cleaning of the lighter and the pier over which the cotton was 
trucked. It was also necessary to issue written instructions to the steamship com¬ 
pany to have the hold of the vessel carrying the seed to England cleaned on its arrival 
at Southampton. 
Mr. J. W. O’Brien, a plant quarantine inspector of the Federal Horticultural 
Board located in New York City, in cooperation with the customs officials, recently 
intercepted living larvae of the European Corn Borer in stalks of broom corn con¬ 
tained in passenger’s baggage. This material was taken from the baggage of a 
third class passenger arriving from Italy, who proposed to take it to Missouri. 
Subsequent to this interception, Mr. O’Brien discovered a similar collection in the 
baggage of a passenger arriving from Germany. 
Notes on Medical Entomology 
Dr. F. C. Cook of the Insecticide and Fungicide Board, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, 
died on June 19 at Dallas, Texas, following an operation for appendicitis. Dr. 
Cook had been in Dallas nearly a month working with the agents of the Bureau of 
Entomology on the chemotropic responses of various flies. 
Mr. R. W. Wells, who has been engaged for several years in the Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology working on insects affecting live stock, resigned during July to enter commer¬ 
cial work. 
On June 27 a conference was held at Del Rio, Texas, in connection with a meeting 
of the Sheep and Goat Raisers Association of Texas to consider ways and means of 
carrying out further experiments with scab mites, particularly along biological lines. 
At this conference the Texas Experiment Station was represented by Director Youngs 
blood and Professor Jones, the experiment sub-station at Sonora, Texas by Dr. 
