: 

a 
MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLD&® Lew, 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTU. 

Number 114 October, 1923 
— 

FOREST INSECT INVESTIGATIONS 
F. C, Craighead, Forest Entomologist in Charge 
Recent investigations and correspondence indicate that the southern 
pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.,is threatening an outbreak in the South- 
ern States. This insect is the most injurious enemy of the southern pines, 
and serious local outbreaks are occurring in Virginia, West Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Texas, and Florica. The insect is ranging farther north than it has since 
1895. It is not yet known whether these outbreaks indicate a serious 
epidemic. 
Reports by Mr. Miller and Mr. Edmonston from the Kaibab Project in 
northern Arizona indicate that the Black Hills beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae 
Hopk., is threatening a very serious outbreak which may rival that of 
this beetle in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Further investigations 
of the extent of the infestation are being made, and it is possible that 
an extensive control project will be instituted. 
FRUIT INSECT INVESTIGATIONS 
A. L. Quaintance, Entomologist in Charge 
Fred E. Brooks reports that during the period of the present season 
when weevils were ovipositing in nuts of the Department's experimental 
chestnut orchard at Bell Station, Md., it was thought that weevils were 
scarcer and that infestation would be less serious than last year. The nuts 
are proving to be exceedingly wormy, however, as is indicated by the fact 
that one lot cf 3,080 nuts selected from trees in various parts of the or- 
chard have to date yielded 9,670 larvae, or a little more than an average 
of 3 to the nut. Tre larvae are still issuing from the same nuts at the 
rate of about 400 per day. 
At an elevation of about 1,600 feet in central West Virginia, the larvae 
of Oncideres cingulata hatching from eggs deposited in 1922 are preparing to pass 
the second winter in a half-grown condition. Recent investigations show that 
a little farther south practically all individuals complete their transfor- 
mation within 12 months. 
Oliver I. Snapp of: the Peach Insect Laboratory at Fort Valley, Ga., 
states: "Climatic conditions have been excellent for putting out paradichlo- 



