Vol. LII. LONDON. MAY. 1920. No. 5 



CHARLES GORDON HEWITT. 



In the death of Charles Gordon Hewitt, Dominion Entomologist and Con- 

 sulting Zoologist, the biological sciences have lost a leader of exceptional ability. 

 Not only was he held in the highest esteem by his colleagues of the Dominion 

 Entomological Service, but entomologists generally the world over appreciated 

 his brilliant attainments and marked executive ability. Although eminent 

 in entomology his studies were by no means confined to this science. A broad 

 study of economic zoology from the national standpoint occupied a large share 

 of his thoughts particularly during the last four or five years of his life. 



During his eleven years of office he developed the Dominion Entomological. 

 Service from a very small division, with one assistant and a stenographer, 

 attached to the Experimental Farms Branch, to an important separate Branch 

 of the Department of Agriculture. This development of the Entomological 

 Branch was his most important achievement and the organization he perfected 

 will remain a tribute to his great ability and zeal. The broad development of 

 the Entomological Branch is instanced in the establishment of important Divi- 

 sions at Ottawa, such as the Division of Field Crop and Garden Insects, the 

 Division of Forest Insects, the Division of Foreign Pests Suppression, and the 

 Division of Systematic Entomology, all under the immediate direction of highly- 

 qualified Chiefs. In addition to these divisions of the work special officers have 

 been given charge of such lines of study as Natural Control Investigations, 

 Insecticide Investigations, and Stored Product Insect Investigations. In the 

 various provinces too, field or regional laboratories have been established with 

 trained entomologists in charge, who study local problems and disseminate 

 information of value to agriculturists, horticulturists, lumbermen and others. 



In 19C9, Dr. Hewitt recognized the importance of legislation to prevent the 

 introduction or spreading of insects, pests and diseases destructive to vegetation, 

 and as a result Parliament passed the Destructive Insect and Pest Act in May, 

 1910. Under the regulations of this Act inspectors were appointed to deal 

 with the threatened spread of the brown tail moth in the Maritime provinces, 

 and provisions were made for the prohibition, fumigation or inspection of nursery 

 stock at definite ports of entry. In addition to the brown tail scouti ng work, which he 

 developed in co-operation with the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick, he also arranged for the collection in Massachusetts and establishment in 

 eastern Canada of thousands of parasitic and predaceous enemies of the brown 

 tail and gipsy moths. Dr. Hewitt was keenly interested in medical entomology 

 and accomplished much useful work on problems related to the house-fly, mos- 

 quitoes, ticks and other animals which spread disease. 



He was the author of important books and memoirs. His chief published 

 work is the well-known book on the house-fly of which there were two editions. 

 A smaller book on the same subject appeared later as one of the Cambridge 



97 



