Cbe Battalion
Vol. 65 No. 126 College Station, Texas Wednesday, July 1, 1970
Warm,
cloudy,
humid
Generally fair thru Friday.
Maximum temperature 95 de
grees, minimum temperature 70
degrees.
Telephone 845-2226
Donald Jones gathers insects for research
Green lace wings prove ‘big things come in small packages’
Cotton farmers’ hopes
lie with predator insect
Directors award contracts
contracts total more than $9,3 million
By Pat Little
Developing an economical and
effective method of raising a
predator insect which preys on
cotton bollworms and tobacco bud-
worms is the goal of scientists at
the Entomology Research Labora
tory.
Their attention is centered on
a graceful and delicate insect, the
green lacewing and its offspring,
a ferocious larva with formidable
pincers and an appetite so aggres
sive it is called the aphid lion.
The aphid lion has been known
to be a natural enemy of the
cotton insect for many years, but
the laboratory is the first to
recognize its practical use as an
insect control after extensive field
tests. The next step is to develop
a low cost method of producing
the larvae.
The larvae would have to be
GREAT SAVINGS PLAN made
even better by new legal rates at
FIRST BANK & TRUST. Adv.
raised today on grain moth eggs,
the cheapest natural food, which
would cost the farmer about $200
per acre, plus $15 for distribution.
Long weekend
ahead for 4th
A long weekend for students
begins Friday, adding Monday
to the July 4 holiday since
Independence Day falls on Sat
urday this year.
Classes dismiss at 5 p. m.
Friday and will resume at 8
a. m. Tuesday, July 7. With
the institutional observance of
Independence Day Monday,
classes are dismissed that day.
Academic Vice President H. R.
Byers announced.
Monday also will be a faculty-
staff holiday.
The Three-day holiday will
cut the final week of the first
summer session to three class
days. Session final exams be
gin Thursday evening, July 9,
and conclude July 10.
An artificial food was developed
by Dr. Erma S. Vanderzant,
United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) biochemist
and insect nutrition specialist, and
the liquid is encapsulated in
“eggs,” which are tiny capsules
about 20 thousands of an inch in
diameter.
The aphid lion feeds effectively
on both the artificial eggs and
the natural food. Sam House,
biological technician in charge of
rearing the insects, said the de
velopment of the larvae is slower
when the artificial food is used,
but it is still very effective.
The problem on encapsulating
the dietary fluid was handled by
the Southwest Research Institute
(SwRI) on the basis of its ex
tensive experience in that field.
Clarke E. Schuetze, SwRI
senior research chemist, Dr. LeOn
Adams, manager of the organic
and polymer chemistry section of
the Institute’s Department of
Chemistry and Chemical Engi
neering, and Research Chemist
(See Insects, page 2)
Contracts totaling $9.3 million
were awarded Tuesday by the
Board of Directors.
The board also sold a $5 million
revenue bond issue ~Eb Halsey,
Stuart & Co., Inc., and Associates
of New York, low bidder, at an
effective interest rate of 7.5030
percent.
Largest contract was a $7,197,-
000 award to Houston-based Man
hattan Construction Company of
Texas to build a new low-density
dormitory complex on campus.
Revenue from the bond issue will
help finance the project, designed
to accommodate nearly 1,000 stu
dents.
Another large project included
six contracts for improvement of
water system facilities on cam
pus. Contract winners were Pan
handle Construction Co., Inc.,
Lubbock, $562,220; R. B. Butler
Inc., Bryan, $388,838; R. B. Hodg
son & Co., Inc., Dallas, $285,466;
★ ★ ★
Vice President
says 14,900
due during fall
Dr. Horace R. Byers, aca
demic vice president, told the
Board of Directors Tuesday to
expect an enrollment of 14,900
in the fall term.
“This figure is inprecise — I
wouldn’t be surprised if we went
below 14,000 or above 15,000”
Byers said. He added that the
figure would be approximately
900 higher than last year’s en
rollment.
Byers said he anticipates ap
proximately 3,180 (or 21.4 per
cent of total enrollment) gradu
ate students and about 1,350 (9
per cent of total enrollment)
women. He added that approxi
mately half of the women will
be graduate students.
“We anticipate the corps of
cadets to maintain its present
level,” Byers added.
He emphasized that the Uni
versity of Texas is already in
trouble with the Coordinating
Board, Texas Colleges and Uni
versity System, because of its
large enrollment. Byers pointed
out that A&M is slightly above
its projected enrollment.
“This is one thing we should
worry about—as time goes on,
we’re going to have to level off,”
he said. Byers added enrollment
will have to be held at 20,000 by
1980 in accordance with Coordi
nating Board’s figures.
He added A&M is limiting en
rollment by applying a double
standard for undergraduate stu
dents—one for out-of-state stu
dents and one for resident stu
dents.
“However, in graduate school,
the name of the game is to not
discourage non - resident gradu
ate students because this builds
up a colleges’ reputation on its
ability to draw students from
throughout the world,” Byers
said.
Gorbett Bros., Inc., Fort Worth,
$41,669; Smith Pump Co., Waco,
$32,865; and Delta Machine Co.,
Inc., Houston, $16,680.
The Jarbet Co. of San Antonio
was awarded a $357,041 contract
for construction of new parking
facilitiees for the northeast sec
tion of the campus and pavement
repair around the System Admin
istration Building.
Contracts totaling $256,149
were awarded for two construc
tion projects at Prairie View.
Rowe and Mayfield, Inc. of Hous
ton received a $129,700 award to
construct an eight-classroom
building. Chappell Hill Construc
tion Co. of Brenham won a $126,-
449 contract to build a new fire
station and campus security of
fice.
Other contracts included $84,-
261, Commercial Kitchens Divi-
Finding the best route between
buying elaborate, highly reliable
equipment and less costly ma
chinery that may require con
stant maintenance is the purpose
of campus investigations for the
U. S. Post Office Bureau of Re
search and Engineering.
Known as maintainability engi
neering, it involves measuring
and predicting maintenance needs
of postal equipment systems in
terms of repair costs and lost
operating time.
The Industrial Engineering De
partment headed by Dr. A. W.
Wortham conducts the research
under a 16-month, $98,863 con
tract to develop a reliability and
maintainability analysis program
for the Post Office. Worthan
directs the project.
Dr. Wilbur L. Meier Jr., indus
trial engineering professor in
charge of various project phases
with Dr. Robert L. Street, said
work will be completed in Decem
ber and that interim reports are
being eagerly snapped up by
postal officials.
“They are so interested that
they are pressuring us, taking
our draft reports and circulating
them throughout the depart
ment,” Meier said. “It’s surpris
ing the way these are welcomed,
even by people in the maintenance
division.”
Final product of the contracted
study will be sets of training
manuals and reports on how to
use maintainability programs.
The post office problem is
keeping in operation highly com
plex machinery in the large mail
processing centers. To keep
abreast of burgeoning mail loads,
the post office has automated
many aspects of mail handling,
including machine sorting and
cancellation of envelope and pack
age mail, Meier explained.
Extremely sophisticated types
sion of Industrial Industries, Inc.,
Houston, portion of Kitchen and
food-serving equipment for new
dormitory; two awards totaling
$49,898 to J. A. Callaway, Bryan,
construction of portable animal
shelter complex; $17,830, Mar-
Cal, Inc., Bryan, replacement of
windows at P. L. Downs Nata-
toriuhi.
Also $17,826, Mabry, Inc., Bry
an, fish tank temperature control
system in Biological Sciences
Building; $17,450, Sentry Con
struction Co., Bryan, convert
Dairy Breeding Center to Rumi
nant Nutrition Laboratory; and
$16,934, W. E. Kutzscl\bach Co.,
Bryan, outdoor lighting\for vet
erinary medicine complex^
In other action, the board ap
propriated $297,990 for projects
here and Tarleton State College.
of further automation are being
studied, but such equipment must
be highly reliable or have rapid
built-in maintenance capabilities.
“A three-hour down period for
repairs just can’t be tolerated,”
Meier noted. Besides building
up massive backlogs, breakdowns
require mail storage for which
the post office does not have
warehouse facilities.
A preliminary design for means
of placing 12 men on Mars for 75
days has been proposed by 17
students.
Four spacecraft—an earth-orbit
shuttle, space station, command
ship and Mars lander—were de
signed to meet requirements of
a proposal request by Prof. Stan
ley H. Lowy in an aerospace en
gineering course.
During the 414-month project,
student groups headed by William
C. Brown of Zephyr; Larry B.
McWhorter, Bedias, and Kenneth
R. Payne, Midland, considered
aerodynamics, trajectory, propul
sion, guidance-navigation-control,
structures, materials and environ
mental control, life support and
power systems for each of the
vehicles.
The seniors’ proposal was eval
uated by a board composed of
government and industry repre
sentatives.
Lowy said the 155-page pro
posal also including three-view
drawings of the vehicles and a
final design budget was “very
good.”
“I wouldn’t call it perfect,” he
evaluated, “but the design has no
A $122,000 appropriation was
earmarked for hot water service
to the southeast portion of the
campus, where the new dormitory
will be constructed.
The board allocated $120,000
for detailed design of a new of
fice and classroom building,
$25,000 for detailed design for a
new educational television build
ing and $20,000 for landscaping
in the central campus mall area.
A $7,000 appropriation was ap
proved for detailed design for
electrical service for the proposed
Oceanography and Meteorology
Building.
Tarleton State received a $2,990
appropriation for continued Ad
ministration Building remodeling
and $1,000 for a program of re
quirements to utilize unfinished
attic space in the Tarleton Stu
dent Center.
Postal authorities realize, he
added, the best answer is to keep
mail in constant motion, to never
let it stop in the processing
stage.
It is believed the maintain
ability program can help prevent
bottlenecks. Maintenance would
be considered in the machinery
design process, to minimize life
cycle costs.
flaws. The system was designed
from the standpoint of currently
feasible materials and technology.
It did not attempt to extend the
state of the art, and for that
reason did not entail too much
creativity.”
Rationale for the manned Mars
mission was based on current
scientific need for more informa
tion about the earth, solar system
and other planets. Current space
agency planning calls only for
unmanned probes to tour the
major planets within the next
two decades.
Prediction of earth atmospheric
properties many years in the
future could be based on a study
of Mars’ atmosphere, Lowy noted.
“In addition, a manned expe
dition could make geophysical
observations, collect soil and at
mospheric samples, study life
forms if they exist on Mars, study
behavior of earth life forms in
the Martian environment and
search for usable material re-
(See Mars, page 2)
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.”
—Adv.
Department develops
studies for Post Office
Students propose
Mars trip design
Sign and bridge over Ross Street—no Aggie Joke