146 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



May 13, 1911. 



are of this order; while sleeping sickness of man, and 

 the related diseases of animals in which the causative 

 agency is a trypanosome, are communicated by the 

 bites of other blood-sucking flies. Typhoid fever is 

 transmitted by the common house fly, which merely 

 acts as a carrier in a mechanical way; but the insects 

 previously mentioned are intermediate hosts, and are 

 necessary to the development of the parasitic organism 

 causing the disease. 



Ticks, which are related to the insects, infect cattle 

 with Texas fever, or red-water, and are known to trans- 

 mit other diseases, acting as intermediate hosts of the 

 disease-producing organism in the same manner as the 

 insects mentioned above. 



It seems likely, also, that other relationships 

 between insects and diseases may be demonstrated in 

 the future. A very brief consideration of the effects 

 of the diseases mentioned will serve to illustrate the 

 very important bearing of insects on great develop- 

 mental problems. 



A list of the colonies of the British Empire in 

 which there are employed at the present time scientific 

 officers trained in entomology, with the dates at which 

 these officers were first appointed, would show remark- 

 able progress within the last fifteen years, and in other 

 countries the progress has also been great, especially in 

 the United States. 



Government entomologists are for the most part 

 connected with agricultural departments, but the 

 increasing knowledge of the manner of the spread of 

 disease is resulting in more particularized entomologi- 

 cal training on the pari of medical officers, and the 

 schools of tropical medicine are offering increased 

 facilities for the study of entomology relating to the 

 practice of medicine; in fact, at all institutions of 

 learning in science, entomology is receiving an increas- 

 ing amount of attention. 



Insects of importance on account of their relations to 

 crops are also collectL^d and studied. Under the 

 direction of the committee, entomologists are sent out 

 to tropical Africa, who make collections of, and notes 

 on, blood-sucking and other insects, and also endeav- 

 our to enlist the co-operation of medical and other 

 officers, whom they instruct, when necessary, in the 

 best methods of collecting, packing and forwarding 

 insects for study. 



Agriculture, as an industry, is fundamental, and 

 agricultural products are the world's greatest necessi- 

 ties. The ability to produce the greatest amounts of 

 these products with theleast loss from preventable causes 

 should be included among the aims of governmental 

 activities. To preserve the health of its subjects should 

 be also a matter of concern to a government; for whatever 

 may be the agricultural possibilities of any locality, these 

 are not likely to be fully realized while deadly diseases 

 play havoc with the health of the inhabitants and of 

 domestic animals. These facts are becoming more and 

 more realized, and the important bearing of entomologi- 

 cal knowledge on the productivity of agricultural and 

 other districts, especially in the tropics, is increas- 

 ingly apparent. The results that have been achieved 

 already in combating the insect pests of agricultural 

 crops, and the control of such diseases as yellow fever, 

 malaria and Texas fever, are sufficiently striking and 

 important to direct attention to the enormous possi- 

 bilities along these lines. 



These matters are of first importance to govern- 

 ments, since the prosperity of a nation depends on the 

 well-being and health of the people, and it is only when 

 those who are responsible for governmental administra- 

 tion control, through their officers, the necessary investi- 

 gations and experiments, and the practical application 

 of the acquired knowledge, that the greatest good can be 

 expected to accrue. 



The African Entomological Research Committee, 

 appointed in 1909 by the Colonial Office, of which 

 a brief account was published in a recent number of 

 the Agricultural Neivs (see Vol. X. p. 90), affords 

 evidence of the recognition by the Imperial Government 

 pf the value of the study of entomology in connexion 

 with diseases and agriculture. 



The principal object of this counnittee is the 

 investigation of tropical diseases and of the insect 

 agencies by means of which they are disseminated. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, accom- 

 panied by .Mr. F. W. South, B.A., ^Jlycologist on the 

 Staff' of the Department, returned from St. Vincent 

 by the S.S. 'Ocamo', on the 1st. instant. 



Dr. Watts left Barbados on .May N, 1911, by the 

 RM.S. 'Orotava', for Grenada, for the purpose of con- 

 ferring with His Excellency the Governor of the Wind- 

 ward Islands on general agricultural matters, and is 

 expected to return by the K.IM.S. 'Clyde' on ^fay 17. 



