486 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 13. 
Chairman A. L. Melander: This concludes the program. The 
meeting stands adjourned, it being understood that we meet next year 
with the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Science, as we have done this year, the meeting scheduled to 
be held at San Francisco, Cal. 
Meeting adjourned. 
E. C. VanDyke, 
Secretary. 
MEXICAN BEAN BEETLE SITUATION 
By W. E. Hinds, Auburn, Ala. 
In the October, 1920, issue of the Journal, pp. 430-431, appears a 
brief statement regarding the discovery of Epilachna corrupta Muls 1 
in Alabama. Scouting work continued through September and Octo¬ 
ber revealed the species in all, or parts, of thirteen counties. This 
infested area extends in a northeasterly direction from the eastern part 
of Tuscaloosa County and the northern part of Bibb County to the 
Georgia Line at the northeastern part of DeKalb County, Alabama. 
The area infested covers more than 4,500 square miles. 
A special effort was made to secure an emergency appropriation of 
$250,000 from the special session of the Alabama Legislature, which met 
in September, to begin a campaign for the extermination of the pest in 
this section. This effort failed as it required a two-thirds vote to carry 
at a special session. Unfortunately no federal funds are available for 
such work at this time. With the delay incident to securing federal 
action there would doubtless be time for the spread of the pest during 
another season, thereby making the extermination of the species 
doubly difficult, if not quite impossible. 
Meantime field work has been under way in studying the life history 
and insecticidal control of the bean beetle. Control efforts have 
proven very ineffective with all materials tested thus far. Arsenicals 
act primarily as repellents and exert some benefit in this way, but may 
not prove effective in saving a crop from practically complete destruc¬ 
tion. It now appears that quite new materials and probably some new 
machinery and new methods for their application may be needed to 
solve this problem of control. 
Among the food plants, the common bush snap beans appear to be 
most severely injured, and the loss is likely to be complete henceforth 
except for a partial yield from the earliest planted beans. This is 
almost equally true as regards pole beans and shell beans. Lima beans 
1 For several reasons it seems that the common name Mexican bean beetle should 
be used instead of bean ladybird. 
