250 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



sarily follows that the dipterous beak is also a labium, but the 

 question of the dipterous mouth is obviously re-opened, and Dr. 

 Smith's homologies must be most carefully tested. The man- 

 dibular seta is a puzzle, but if we homologize the two pairs of 

 jaws there is no reason why it should not be called a mandibular 

 lacinia. 



Dr. Riley presented a paper of which the following is an 

 abstract : 



NOTES FROM CALIFORNIA: RESULTS OF MR. KOEBELE'S 

 SECOND MISSION TO AUSTRALIA. 



By C. V. RILEY. 

 {Authors abstract.'} 



Dr. Riley, under this head, gave an account of his observations 

 upon his recent trip to California as to the results of Mr. 

 Koebele's second mission to Australia. He briefly narrated the 

 history of this mission as recorded in official publications of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and to the unpleasant controversy 

 between the California State Board of Horticulture and the 

 Department which had grown out of this mission. Said State 

 Board had obtained an appropriation from the State legislature 

 for the importation of beneficial insects and had appealed to the 

 Secretary of Agriculture to have Mr. Koebele sent over to 

 Australia for this purpose, the appropriation being placed at the 

 service of the Department. The then Secretary, Hon. J. M. 

 Rusk, being absent, Acting Secretary Edwin Willets courteously 

 declined, for reasons, the proposed arrangement. Upon his 

 return, however, Secretary Rusk, having in the meantime, while 

 in California, promised that Mr. Koebele should be sent, 

 reversed Mr. Wallets' decision. Mr. Koebele was consequently 

 sent under Dr. Riley's direction. As* time went on, the results 

 of the introduction through Mr. Koebele's efforts, as a consequence 

 of this second mission, caused much discussion in California, the 

 State Board and its adherents claiming great success, while the 

 practical fruit-growers as a rule began to lose faith. Dr. Riley 

 alluded to several incidents which showed the baneful effects; 

 which political influence and methods sometimes have on 

 scientific investigation. In the fall of 1893 he had Messrs'.'' 

 Coquillett and Koebele directed to carefully examine and report 

 on the condition of the importations and the work they were 

 doing. Their reports were published in Insect Life, Vol. VI, 

 pp. 24-29, and showed on the whole that the imported insects 

 had, up to that time, failed to produce any marked beneficial 



