58 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



A vote of thanks was unanimously tendered Mr. Hunter by 

 the Society. 



Mr. Wilmon Newell of Texas, Mr. C. B. Williams of England, 

 and Mr. R. L. Webster of Iowa visitors were each in turn 

 called upon by the President and responded with a few appro- 

 priate remarks. 



The retiring President gave -the following address : 



SOME OBSERVATIONS ON MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 



BY W. D. HUNTER. 



It is altogether likely that no branch of entomology will develop 

 as rapidly in the next few years as that which deals with trans- 

 mission or conveyance of diseases. Medical entomology brings 

 the importance of a knowledge of insects home to large new 

 groups of persons, physicians and sanitarians, and thus greatly 

 enlarges its clientele. Until recently it was the producers of 

 crops who were principally concerned, but more and more, as 

 new discoveries are made, entomology comes into importance in 

 connection with the personal welfare of man. There therefore 

 seems to be some little timeliness in observations on the present 

 status of our knowledge of disease transmission by insects, and 

 on possible extensions of the field. The theme also seems to be 

 pertinent on account of the fact that this Society probably con- 

 tains as great a proportion of individuals interested in medical 

 entomology as any similar society in existence. 



As a prelude attention will be directed to what may be called 

 the biological significance of infectious diseases. This idea was 

 probably first put into form by Lankester but was brought home 

 to us by a former colleague W. F. Fiske. In a broad way the 

 proper study of infectious diseases is essentially a study of para- 

 sitism. The principles involved, as Fiske states, are very similar 

 to those which entomologists have been considering for many 

 years. For instance there is an analogy between the human 

 diseases and the parasites of the boll weevil. In this case there 

 are numerous species of different families which exist on other 

 species of insects which are dependent upon various plants. There 

 thus exists a biocenose or complex and the boll weevil at the 

 center may be affected by something which happens to a plant 

 for instance which may occupy a place on the periphery of the 

 complex. The same inter-relationships occur with the parasites 

 of the Gypsy moth and other insects. If we should substitute 



