being generally recognized as practicable and efficient methods of handling infested orchards. This is particularly true in reference to the so-called citrophilus mealybug. The study of this insect was begun during the year in response to a petition from citrus associations and fruit exchanges in western San Bernardino County, where considerable alarm had been aroused by the rapid spread and great damage done by this scale insect. The citrophilus mealybug is a comparatively new pest, which started with an invasion of a few trees in 1915, but now covers an area of about 1,000 acres. A 20-acre demonstration plot has been freed from this mealybug by the combined procedure of control of the Argentine ant, spraying the trunks of the trees, and utilization of predatory natural enemies.

The important relationship of the Argentine ant to infestation by mealybugs in southern California has necessitated as a first step the control of this ant. This is accomplished by the use of poisoned ant sirup. This method of control has already been extended to upwards of 200 acres in this district, and a great expansion of this work is now in progress.

The hydrocyanic-acid gas investigations in southern California have been continued more particularly with relation to the use of liquid hydrocyanic acid-a method which on account of its convenience and efficiency bids fair to supplant the older methods of generating gas by a combination of the necessary chemicals at the moment of use. The most economical method of production of this liquefied gas is being worked out, together with field experiments to determine the best methods of use and to eliminate the risk of accidental poisoning of workmen. A Farmers' Bulletin (No. 923) has been issued, bringing down to date the standard method of fumigation hitherto used and giving full instructions for such fumigation.

CITRUS-FRUIT INSECTS IN FLORIDA.-The work of this department in the control of citrus insects has taken the form in Florida of regional orchard demonstration and is coordinated with the extension work in this State. During the year two bulletins in relation to this work have been published. One (Department Bulletin 645) is entitled "Some Reasons for Spraying to Control Insect and Mite Enemies of Citrus Trees in Florida," and the other is a Farmers' Bulletin (No. 933) giving specific directions for spraying for the control of such insects.

CONTROL OF THE FLUTED SCALE IN NEW ORLEANS. This project was completed during the year and was discontinued June 30. It was an enterprise conducted by the city of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, and this department in cooperation. The control of the fluted scale has been accomplished in New Orleans and neighboring places by the propagation and liberation of thousands of the natural enemy of this scale insect, the Australian ladybird, Norius cardinalis. Over 300 colonies of these ladybirds were liberated over an area of 40 square miles. The distribution of this beneficial ladybird has been extended to the known outlying infestations of the fluted scale in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. In connection with this work some very interesting studies have been made of the fluted scale, its ladybird enemy, and particularly the symbiotic relationship between the fluted scale and the Argentine ant. The results of this work demonstrated that this ant by protecting the fluted scale from its

natural enemies enormously increased the multiplication and destructiveness of this scale insect, and that therefore one of the effective means of controlling this scale is to control the ant, as has been demonstrated similarly in the case of the mealybug in California, referred to above.

STUDIES OF GREENHOUSE INSECTS.-The spreading and penetration qualities of various contact insecticides employed in the control of insects occurring in greenhouses, with especial reference to the effect of these solutions on the plants, if applied to the soil for subterranean pests, have been under study and a considerable amount of data relative thereto assembled. The life history of the chrysanthemum aphis has been worked out and the value of water under pressure as a means of controlling the red spider determined. Several manuscripts dealing with important injurious greenhouse insects are in the course of preparation.

MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY AND MELON FLY.-Under the Mediterranean fruit fly and melon fly quarantine the following fruits and vegetables are inspected and certified as a condition of their shipment from Hawaii to the mainland of the United States: Bananas of the noncooking type, pineapples, taro, and coconuts. Provision is also made for the certification for movement to the mainland of other fruits and vegetables when it can be shown to the satisfaction of the Department of Agriculture that such fruits and vegetables in the form and manner in which they will be shipped are not and can not be a means of conveying either the Mediterranean fruit fly or the melon fly. This work is a continuing work, except as to changes which may be made from time to time in the list of fruits the export of which is permitted under the direction and supervision of the Federal Horticultural Board in cooperation with this bureau.

The studies of introduced parasites have been continued during the year, and a number of very important biological facts have been determined which have added much to the knowledge of the problem of control of fruit flies by these introduced parasites, and have wide bearing on the subject of parasitic control of injurious insects. A number of technical papers on this subject have been published during the year. Notably in the case of coffee and to a certain extent also in the case of edible tropical fruits, the work of the fruit fly has been very materially checked by these introduced parasites.

EXTENSION AND DEMONSTRATION WORK.

By act of Congress, under provisions of the food-production act to stimulate agricultural production, funds were made available for this bureau to disseminate information, by demonstration or otherwise, as to methods of preventing the loss due to insects and for increasing the production of honey. This work has been placed under the supervision of Mr. J. A. Hyslop and has been carried on in cooperation with the States Relations Service and with the State agricultural colleges and experiment stations. Special field agents in entomology have been appointed and are reinforcing the State entomological forces and assisting the county agents in the several States.

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This work is being carried on in the various States under definite project agreements. These projects have been formally accepted by 33 States and are in accordance with the general memorandum of understanding in force between these States and the United States Department of Agriculture.

An average of 57 specialists from the Bureau of Entomology has been maintained in the field, these men being selected with a view to their training, experience, and knowledge of field conditions in the regions in which they are to serve. Their work consists essentially in carrying out campaigns in the extension of knowledge of the methods of fighting insects, covering as effectively as possible all the important crops and domestic animals. These specialists give demonstrations to groups of farmers, live-stock men, fruit growers, and others in the preparation of spray mixtures, emulsions, and poisoned baits, and in other methods of insect control. Wherever it is possible, persons in the communities where demonstrations are being made are induced to assist in the work in order that each community may have one or more persons acquainted with the methods of assembling and applying insecticides.

Seventeen special field agents have been employed to carry on extension work in the control of insects affecting cereal and forage crops. The outstanding feature of this work has been an extensive and successful campaign for the control of grasshoppers, which early in the season promised to be extremely destructive in the upper Mississippi Valley and in Montana. The first successful campaign for the control of the "coulee cricket" in the Pacific Northwest was. carried on by two of these agents in Washington and Oregon this summer. During last fall a very successful campaign for the control of the Hessian fly was carried on in the middle western wheat region, and considerable effort was directed this spring to the control of the European corn borer, a newly introduced corn pest in New England.

Three special field agents and two entomological assistants are carrying on extension work in the control of stored-product insects. The work is being confined to the Gulf States and Georgia, with the exception of the work being carried on in connection with the Quartermaster's Office for the port of New York. The work in the Southern States has been almost exclusively in the control of the black corn weevil, a pest which is conservatively estimated as annually destroying 10 per cent of the stored corn in the cotton belt. The work with the Quartermaster's Department in the port of New York has been on the control of insects which destroy both food materials and supplies held for over-seas shipment.

Twelve special field agents are carrying on extension work in the control of truck-crop insects. Owing to the nature of this work it has been found necessary to depart from the regional standpoint and place an agent more or less permanently in each State in which work is undertaken, as these agents find it necessary to correlate their work very closely with that of the county agent and the work becomes more effective the longer the field agent remains in any given State. This work last year was carried on in South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin, California, and Washington. The work in

the Atlantic Coast States was extremely effective in controlling a very serious outbreak of the potato aphis.

Nine special field agents are engaged in extension work in the control of deciduous-fruit insects, one agent being located in each of the following States: Washington, Oregon, Texas, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Virginia, Rhode Island, and North Carolina. These agents have closely associated their work with that of the county agents, putting on demonstrations, assisting in sprayings, advising fruit growers, and giving lectures. In addition to this work, eight entomological inspectors have been employed in survey work to determine the territory covered by the recently introduced oriental peach moth.

Three agents in California and one in Florida are carrying on extension work in the control of citrus-fruit insects. The work in California has been very largely devoted to teaching methods of destruction of the Argentine ant, which incidentally will control certain of the mealybugs attacking citrus fruits.

Three agents are covering the entire lower Mississippi Valley, teaching methods of control of insects affecting poultry and cattle. An average of six special field agents has been maintained in the field teaching modern methods in beekeeping. Work has been carried on in 34 States along this line, and the field agents have addressed nearly 25,000 beekeepers and have visited 1,198 apiaries to give personal instructions. In addition to this they have organized 84 county beekeepers' associations in the several States.

In all, the bureau's agents have held 338 conferences with county agents, extension directors, State entomologists, and others to further this work; they have put on 894 demonstrations where practical methods of insect control were actually used before growers and livestock men; they have visited 5,828 farmers to give personal advice on entomological questions, and have delivered 1,366 lectures before audiences amounting to 90,385 persons.

The bureau's representative in this work is cooperating with the States Relations Service by making an annual inspection of all States carrying on Smith-Lever fund work in entomology, with a view of improving and correlating the efforts in entomological extension work. Another activity of this office has been the work in connection with the Bureau of Entomology's exhibits. This year an exhibit consisting of 10 screens, one screen to illustrate the activities of each of the bureau's research offices, has been prepared. These screens each contain eight bromide enlargements of the important pests, their ravages, and the methods for their control. This exhibit is part of the large interdepartmental exhibit which was displayed at 32 of the State fairs throughout the country. The motion-picture activities of the bureau have been arranged for in connection with the work on exhibits, and several films have been prepared.

WAR EMERGENCY ENTOMOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE.

Cooperative arrangements have been made with the entomologists of the various agricultural colleges and experiment stations, with the teachers of entomology in the other colleges and universities, with the field workers of the Forest Service, with the county agents 97335°-AGR 191817

in the different States, with field employees of the extension service, and all other available observers, by which undue increase of any insect pest is immediately reported to this bureau, in order that knowledge of prospective outbreaks should be first centralized and then distributed to bring about the promptest and most efficacious measures. In this way the almost daily condition of the principal crops of the country in regard to injurious insects is thoroughly well known for the entire country. This information has been brought together and issued to the economic entomologists of the country in the form of manifold emergency circulars published at the end of each month. While it is impossible to estimate in any way the value of this service, there can be no doubt that it is well worth while and that it has been of a very considerable monetary value.

BEE-CULTURE INVESTIGATIONS.

This work has continued under the supervision of Dr. E. F. Phillips. The export demand for honey has increased greatly since the beginning of the European war, indicating that honey has ceased to be a luxury in the minds of the allied peoples. During the last half of the year honey was exported to the value of perhaps $2,000,000, about ten times the valuation of the export of honey for any year before the beginning of the war. The home demand for honey has also increased, but it is difficult to give any figures for this, as much of the honey of the country never reaches the larger centers of trade. As a result of these two demands the price of honey has risen to the highest figures recorded for many years, but during 1918 this has been influenced by the fact that there was a heavy loss of bees during the previous winter, resulting in a decrease in production in the eastern United States. This increase in price has acted as the greatest possible stimulus to the industry to increase production, the very thing which is so greatly needed if the industry is to do its share in the prosecution of the war. It is therefore safe to predict that the coming year will see the greatest effort ever made in furthering beekeeping.

The United States Food Administration has been of great help to the beekeepers in expediting shipments of honey and supplies for beekeeping, and especially in granting permits to beekeepers to buy sugar for feeding their bees where this was necessary.

The Bureau of Markets of this department has continued the issuing of the semimonthly market reports, and this has made it possible for the first time for the producer to get truthful information regarding the honey markets. This alone has been one of the chief factors making it feasible for this bureau to encourage beekeepers to increase their production. The continuation of the crop reports of the Bureau of Crop Estimates has also been of importance in this crisis in the industry.

The United States Fuel Administration was of service in permitting the chief factories for the manufacture of beekeeping supplies to run on fuelless days and in supplying one of these factories with coal at a serious time. The Post Office Department recently ruled that bees without combs may be shipped by parcel post, a ruling which materially helps in the proper distribution of bees whenever there is a serious loss in any part of the country.