ENTOMOLOGICAL. VEXATIOUS LOSSES IN ENTOMOLOGY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1967, 5 November 1891, Page 5

ENTOMOLOGICAL. VEXATIOUS LOSSES IN ENTOMOLOGY.

There ia something axoeedingly vexations in the loss of .yduabjevinaect friends in oases where their aid is so much wanted. Atßlenheim the frnit-growera will suffer for the nonarrival of vedalia 'to' destroy their cottony cushion ecale, because the gentleman to whose bare they' 'wire to be sent declined to receive them t|y,v summer, under the impression that they would perish daring the winter, whereas 4hey-would : rfot"if" taken" care of, and in sunaTb&t probably there will be none to Bend. Then there has' just' arrived at Nelson a valuable shipment -of vedalia from California, but they are all dead from being too long on the way, lancL their food alMatenvr Tnia is not from any 'fault ol the' poaif office official?, but be.cauje.it appears that there is no parcel poet direct from California, and parcels have to ba privately arranged for with some person on board the B*jsa'faboats. , %; ; ; f •' ' ; But by ;?far the most „ vexatious' event 'occurred on the arrival of Mr'Koebele in A'uokland, on his way to Australia from California. >Tbe Un^ed States Entomological department's 'officers, partly in return for valuable insects received from New Zealand, and more from spirit, of large-hearted sympathy for whioh they are so distinguished, took -the.ppportuni_ty __tp ,aend._New^=u*land. &, present of a most valuable HSEoitmeat of insect friends, well proved as exterminators of the codlin moth, .the woolfy Wpplo aphis", various destructive scale insects, and ether serious peats. To the astonishment and dismay of every person of any sense, an objection was made to Mr Eoebele landing them, unless they were opened and examined by the Customhouse officer*! Seeing, that' the insects had been brought all the way on ice, and were in a torpid condition, and circumstances required them to remain in that atate for a considerable time (in the Frozen Meat Company's place), Mr Koebele very wisely and very properly declined to land them, and resolved rather to -transfer the 'gift to another - more sensible "colony -than submit them to a useless process that would enture their destruction;^ <■ ■ Mr Koebele's coining here with these imecfca ' was a piece of rare -good luck,- which is never likely to Happen again, and no words can explain the extent of' ttfe loss our own folly has coat the colony ; bat it is to be hoped some arrangement has been dome, to, or may yet be, before it is too .late. What makea the matter ■the • more'' 1 vexatious is that it was bo entirely unnecessary. ' ■-:!• • <" . Economic Entomologist.