The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-15

>s'-.s.1~s-$-s
study of the species, and all accept thi
as indicating that it is an exotic, no
originally belonging TO our insect
fauna" And again, its generic ancest
ors may have been brought from Eu
| rope or Africa by either the North o
main equatorial Atlantic current land
ing them on the shores of South Amer
ica. Until these tropical countries
have been thoroughly searched by
competent entomologist as we'll a:
parts of Europe and Africa for natura
| enemies of forms closely allied to tht
| Chinch-bug-if the Chinch-bug itself /.
| not to be found there-which NIGH
| readily attack this, I would submit
| that no reasonable man would say that
no natural enemies can be found
(2) Mr.. F. v. Theobald. Mr.. Theo-
bald is known to the world as the
writer of large technical work de-
scribing the many species of mosque
toes He is the authority on this sub
ject- Economic Entomology in Eng
land in comparison with that in other
countries is a matter of small moment.
The appearance of insect pests is gen
orally so irregular in England owing
to the fact that while the summer sea-
son is very short, that part of the
year is too often summer in name
only, and many even of the conlmonest
insects are in some seasons hardly tc
be seen at all. believe Mr.. TheobaId
has had no experience whatever OUT
side England, at most it can have been
of the very slightest. I think that
scarcely any one, not even the strong
est opponents of our views will agree
with the following statement of Theo-
bald quoted by Mr.. Jared Smith. In
few cases predaceous insects have
done enormous good under abnormal
conditions, but in a state of nature they
never appear in sufficient numbers to
make any impression until the pest in
question has increased to such an ex-
tent that the harm is DONE If that
were the case then. vegetation would
cease to exist, as Mr.. Jared Smiths
next authority admits when he SAYS:
'.They q. e. parasites and predaceous
insects) have an extremely important
function in nature, and without them
there would be no possibility of an ex-
listing vegetation I now turn to this
authority.
90 DR.. John B. Smith.
of this New Jersey Entomologist must
respect his opinion, whether agreeing
with it or not. He is well known as a
doubter of the success of importing
beneficial insects, though fully aware
of the value of these, as is shown by
the quotation above just cited.
After visit to California he wrote
of Koebele's Californian
work, but absolutely in opposition to
that of those most interested i. e. the
fruit growers themselves. In any case
DR.. Smith, I am sure, is the last man
to lay down the law as to what is or
IS not the best procedure for these is |
lands, without ever having visited
hem.
After citing these authorities Mr.. |
Jared Smith throws in Mr.. Alexander
craw of San Francisco. whom have |
net personally, with whose work am |
yery we'll acquainted. He employs |
precisely the same methods as Koe-
,ele and myself (a) imports new para
itic and predaceous insects. whenever
,ossible; (b) propagates these in album
lance and distributes them; (c) insists
Ipon rigid quarantine regulations; (d)
dvises the use of artificial remedies,
where natural enemies are not avail
BILE (either being unknown. or unob-
ainable.)
This is absolutely the course laid out
Y myself in my letter to the Board.
Mr., Jared Smith then proceeds to re-
eat the often-made,. but absolutely
ntrue, statement that the cottony
ushion scale is the only instance of
est being controlled by an introduced
insect. Mr.. Koebele has
ntirely succeeded in a large number of
asses, certainly not less perfectly than ]
e did with the cottony-cushion scale.
With the other pests as with the cot
scale, all have ceased TO
ave economic importance Scattered
1lonies of these pests, once ubiquitous [
ow appear only at irregular times, or
-op up in some numbers in a covered
ouse or shady veranda, where their ]
lemies will not follow them, to show :
lat they still exist. In fact several 6
her imported lady-birds have proved
ore valuable to US than that which !
reys on the cottony-cushion scale, q
nee they attack several distinct spe- I
es of pests each, and these fully as /
furious here as the cottony-cushion- q
on. the whole Mr.. Koebele has been t
ore successful (perhaps because he Il
IS given more time to them) with the c
,edaceous than with the parasitic inn
,rtations though in these too he has
ored wonderful success. An inter- i: