Vol. XXviii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 331 



tents could not be seen for house-flies, and these insects were 

 sucking the juices from the lips of unconscious soldiers and 

 many of these sick men were brought to Philadelphia by the 

 car-load. 



Insects are responsible entirely or in large part for the trans- 

 mission of typhoid fever, typhus fever, malaria, yellow fever 

 and tuberculosis and many lesser forms of disease. 



Strange to say, the persons most keenly alive to these condi- 

 tions and the persons who are meeting and trying to prevent 

 these things are the mothers of the young men being trained for 

 war. 



So far as we are aware the Government has done very 

 little to prevent a recurrence of this dreadful sacrifice of life. 

 There will be plenty of medical men to look after the small 

 ills incident to camp life, but will the expert and capable men be 

 there to guard against disease? It has been suggested that a 

 medical entomologist should be stationed at each concentration 

 camp, a most important matter, as sanitation and preventive 

 measures greatly exceed drug therapeutics in importance. \Ye 

 sincerely hope that the present war will not show the dread- 

 ful mortality from disease exhibited in the wars of the past. 

 HENRY SKINNER. 



The second report of the Emergency Entomological Service of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, to which we called atten- 

 tion in the NEWS for June, page 283, has appeared, dated June i, 1917. 

 in 19 mimeographed pages. It announces the establishment, as an emer- 

 gency measure, of a distinct section or branch of the Bureau of En- 

 tomology, that of "Stored Product Insect Investigations," of which 

 Dr. E. A. Back has been put in charge. Plans for the use of the Boy 

 Scout organization to report insect injuries and to spray infested small 

 gardens are being developed. There are reports of insect injuries as 

 in the first report; 3^2 pages arc devoted to a consideration of the 

 "acute situation [which] appears to exist as to the supply of arsenical 

 insecticides in this country." It is stated that "The Council of Na- 

 tional Defense is still considering the plans for the utilization of 

 entomologists in the war. The present plan of the Council provides 

 for a corps of entomologists to be coordinate with the corps of sani- 

 tarians. This subject is also being considered by the Chief of Bureau 

 and the Surgeon General of the Army Medical Corps." 



