82 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



At a meeting of the committee, April 17, 1792, it was resolved, that 

 for obtaining information of the facts necessary for forming the natural 

 history of this insect, before its entire evanishment from amo?ig us, it be 

 recommended to all persons whose situation may have brought them into 

 acquaintance with any such facts, to communicate the same by letter, 

 addressed to Thomas Jefferson, Esq., Secretary of the State to the United 

 States. 



Nine questions were proposed, on which information was particularly 

 wanted. I quote here only the first. 



" In what year, and at what time of the year, was this animal observed 

 for the first time ? Does it seem to have made its appearance in this 

 country only of late years, or are there any reasons for supposing that it 

 was known in any part of the United States previously to the commence- 

 ment of the late revolution ?" 



The resolutions of this meeting are printed in full in Carey's American 

 Museum (Philadelphia, 1792, vol. xi., June, pp. 285-287) by the com- 

 mittee. — Thomas Jefferson, B. Smith Barton, James Hutchinson, Caspar 

 Wistar. The American Musetitn was discontinued after 1792. The last 

 volume contains no report of the committee. 



As is obvious from the first question, it was at this time not settled 

 whether the insect had been observed here before the revolution, or not. 

 Mr. A. Fitch quotes the publication in the American Museum, and stated 

 that no report had been made by the committee. The importance of 

 this question, and of a committee with Jefferson at the head, led me to 

 ask Prof J. P. Lesley whether the old minutes of the Philosophical 

 Society contain any unpublished report, or anything else relating to the 

 Hessian Fly. I received from Mr. Henry Phillips, jun., secretary of the 

 society, the following answer, under date of March 28, 1884 : — 



At the request of Prof Lesley, I have examined our old minutes in 

 reference to the Hessian fly, and append on next page the results of my 

 search. I 'kno'w positively"^ that before the revolution our newspapers 

 are full of communications in reference to the Hessian Fly eo nomine. I 

 cannot call to mind any one paper, but I remember perfectly frequently 

 seeing these articles when reading for other purposes. I cannot find 

 that the committee ever reported. 



* The Italics are by Mr. H, Phillips. 



