318 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Yol. It 
This is only one, fortunately the worst one, of many troublesome 
cases we have had to deal with since beginning these inspections. 
As long as the insurance men refuse to take the fire risk when carbon 
bisulphide is used, I can only recommend the use of that important in¬ 
secticide in small detached buildings or in places where no insurance 
risks would be involved. The managers of some mills and some ware¬ 
houses tell us that they fumigate regularly with hydrocyanic gas, but 
often when talking with the foreman of such a place, we find that the 
work has not been done as often as reported and sometimes we find 
that it has really not been done at all. So it is very hard to get exact 
data on the amount of this work that is actually done. Those who are 
using this gas, or report that they are using it, say that they do not 
regard it as dangerous in mills or in warehouses where only cereals or 
cereal products are stored. But the Pure Foods Laboratory of the 
U. S. Bureau of Chemistry, when asked if there could be any danger 
from this source, ruled that there might be danger at least when other 
food products were present in the building. 
Mr. De Ong, who has been associated with me in some of this work, 
planned to make a series of experiments in order that we might know 
definitely the answer to some of these questions but he is not yet ready 
to report. 
We found only one mill where provision was made for using heat for 
fumigating. In this mill a small room, about 8 x 10 ft. with a 12 ft. 
ceiling, was provided with a large radiator and the miller told me that 
he could easily maintain a temperature there of 130° to 140° F. for 
several hours. In this room he places the infested packages of cereals 
that are sent back from the wholesalers and the retailers and subjects 
them to these high temperatures with the result that all the insects are 
killed. Materials only slightly infested can be reprocessed and the 
others can be used for stock food and the danger of the insects spreading 
over the mill is eliminated. 
I have strongly recommended the construction of such fumigating, 
rooms in many other mills and in some warehouses, where steam for 
heating was available. The room for such a purpose need not be a 
large one for if the lot of material to be treated is more than can be 
stood in the room at one time, it can be divided into small lots and the 
process repeated as many times as necessary. 
The very interesting and important question as to whether the ex¬ 
cretions of the insects, while they are in the flour or other food products, 
has any harmful effect on the food, keeps coming up constantly. It 
has been very generally assumed that if the insects can be removed the 
food will be perfectly wholesome. Few of us, however, can antici¬ 
pate with any great pleasure the using of flour that has been infested 
