The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-17
ANIMAL PESTS WHICH ARE
 BARRED FROM UNITED STATES
Strange Pets Brought Home By Visitors Abroad Usually Seized At Customs Houses Mongoose And Fruit Bats Included
 Among Undesirables, As Well As Ants
 And Insects

l thorities of the village of Meadow ants which Mrs. c. W. Morse wished 1 to bring with her from Europe is only an episode in the perpetual war waged
 against undesirable immigrants, hu- man, animal and vegetable Mrs
 Morse's village, like Nthe one which reached Philadelphia about fortnight before. was probably a by-product Of the increased interest in ture study but the United States government not only dfscourages such aids to amateur
 research, but absolutely prohibits l them. By law passed in 1905 the
 importation of living insects into this country is forbidden and there are isother laws which regulate so strictly the importation of larger aniznals that ! in many cases no discretion is left to the authorities.
 scientists are continually endeavor1ng to introduce additions to the flora and fauna of the United States which the United States is happy to be with i out. It Is estimated that fully one half of the pests that afflict farmers and stock have been imported from abroad, many of course by accident in the course of commercial shipments but some brought in deliberately by misguided enthusiasts or thoughtless travellers.
 The classic instance of misguided enthusiasm in 1869 of the destructive gfpsy moth by scientist named | Trouve1ot. Trouve1ot, Frenchman by birth. an astronomer in Harvard; {; unfortunately he was also an ardent entomologist who had devoted much of his leisure time to the consideration | of the silk worm industry. In an evil hour he conceived the idea of Breeding a hardier worm which might With stand the diseases which were then ravaging rearing establishments In
 France and in pursuit of this pur- pose imported some gipsy moths, 1nr tending to cross them with some or the native species found in the U. $. It so chanced however, that he left inc window of his study in Medford, Mass. open one day. When he re- turned a mass of eggs laid by the gipsy visitors had disappeared-app pparently it had blown out of ths<open window At this point Trouvelot's experiments 1.e stopped Their results did not. They are still with us and have cost the country millions of dollars. For twen-8 ty years the gipsy moth attracted no attention. The people OF Medrord may have wondered at the destruction | of their trees, but the damage re- mained local and the outside world knew nothing c 1t. In 1889. however, the pest suddenly became nrominent- Since that time splitter warfare nas been Waged against 1t, put the vic tory is not yet won.
 z proved an ally of the moth NoI tonIy does it stir up currents Of ar which scatter the fallen and infected foliage but it actpa1ly carries Insects
 many miles into districts Whlcn nave hitherto been immune. And on one occasion some years aEo there Is every reason to believe that deliberate at itempt was made to spread the pest Eggs said to have been found in cal l iforr1ia were sent to the Department ol ffr,1,sa aprff a time it seemed certain that In some unaccountable way the pest had trav-5 eled across the entire continent In iyestigation revealed the fact, however, that the man who forwarded the eggs, 1 had previously been employed in fight | ing the moth in Massachusetts. Upon the arrival of a scientist attached to the department, he left his home and. remained without address until the in vesttga.tor had departed There was no further report of the gipsy moth l in California
 | Tn this case the probable motive was a visionary scheme to profit in some way from a government appropriation to stamp out the pesti1ence- But ig- norance can do as much harm as ma lice. Travellers with the most inno- Icent intentions in the world delight in Infringing back with them souvenirs of their travels and few have any con- tception of the ease with which disease
 lis spread among plants and animals. IBecause of it's traffic with China, Jap- I an and the South Seas. San Francisco
 in particular is favorite port of en-
 ttry for strange and obnoxfous insects Tor would be if the various exotic
 Iseeds fruits and plants which have fattracted their attention in the Orient land the tropics were not ruthlessly
 taken from the incoming tourists. In
 lone instance for example. some strange looking beans were found to be swarning with sweevil. The indi- lvidual from whom this precious prize was taken may have resented the gov iernment's action as piece of petty Interference with 8 personal hobby, but the government saw in the beans | lnot a hobby, but 8 very vital danger
 Ito the vegetables gardens of the coun- itry.
 K More enterprising travellers have at tvarfous times attempted to bring in las a. curiosity the Australian Flying kFox Dnknown in this country this lovergrown bat, which at its largest measures more than five feet across 1.-the tips of it's wings, is one of the great pests of Australia. In their ..carnps'' in the dense scfub of gulIies and swamps, they may be seen by the thousands. crowded so thjckly on the Itrees that branches arN freQuently
 broken by their weight. Their nightly raids in search of food cover consid-
 ierabIe distances and they are espe- lcia1ly4 partial to figs, bananas, peach
 les and other soft fruit. Various ex-
 lpedfents have been tried to protect the orchards ut hitherto these have proved more expensive than successful
 On one occasion some hundred thous- and foxes were shot at an expense to | the governm ent of New South Wales for powder and shot oS 90 cents ca oh. I A little later wholesale destruction by means Of dynamite and other high ex- pIosives was attempted. The foxes avoided the trees that had been so carefully charged and the explosives did no harm.
 The nnongoose is another creature
 which individuals persist in bringilng unihvfted to these shores. For this Lit is perhaps fair to hold .RudYard