INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR 1910-11. 69 



REPORT OF THE SECOND IMPERIAL ENTOMOLO- 

 GIST FOR THE YEAR 1910-lL 



(F. M. HOWLETT, B.A.) 



In 1909, after a year and nine months' service, I was ab- 

 sent on sick leave for a year and five months, returning to 

 Pusa on March 22nd last. I have, therefore, nov^ just com- 

 pleted two years of active service, and the present is a con- 

 venient opportunity for putting forward one or two con- 

 clusions regarding the work of my section. 



I was appointed to study Diptera, and in particular 

 those insects which suck blood and which may transmit dis- 

 ease. 



Roughly speaking the study of any group of insects 

 usually takes one or two distinct but complementary 

 lines : — 



(1) Taxonomies. — The study of the structure of dead 

 specimens as a means of obtaining an accurate nomencla- 

 ture and scheme of classification, thereby facilitating the 

 correlation of results obtained by work in other branches. 



(2) Bionomics. — The study of the life-history, from egg 

 to adult, and the liabits of living insects, their relations 

 with other organisms and the factors which determine 

 their various activities as a means of obtaining knowledge 

 which will enable us to control these activities. 



Of these, (1) can be undertaken in any country to which 

 specimens can be sent, and at any place affording sufficient 

 facilities in the way of necessary literature. In this coun- 

 try the Indian Museum is the only institution at present 

 possessing a library with any pretensions to adequacy in 

 respect of Dipterous taxonomies; (2) can be undertaken 

 only on the spot. The elucidation of the life-history and 

 reactions of insects is the only way whereby we can attain 

 to more than an empirical knowledge of how to control them. 

 To follow this line in the case of a group such as Diptera, 

 about which so little is yet known, demands moreover a 



