THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



wrote him that there were many men, well trained in applied 

 entomology, who could be used to advantage and who were 

 anxious for service. Possibly he never saw my letter, but I 

 received a reply from his office, signed by one of his assistants, 

 stating that what they needed was men trained in sanitary 

 engineering, such as they had employed at Panama, but that 

 they did not need entomologists — men "trained to count the 

 spots on a mosquito's wing." This seemed stupidly absurd to 

 me, since it was perfectly obvious to a clear mind that as soon 

 as a disease is discovered to be carried by an insect, almost the 

 first man to be called in is the man who has been trained in 

 insect life and the best ways of controlling it. Later, however, 

 there was something of a change. Van Dine and Herms were 

 commissioned and well placed in two of the big camps near 

 San Antonio. Middleton, although not commissioned, was used 

 in the same capacity in a more northern camp. And there were 

 others, although I do not recall their names. At the close of 

 the war. Van Dine was sent to New York to assist in the 

 delousing of the returning troops, and Hutchinson did elaborate 

 work with the housefly and the body louse both at Washington 

 and at New Orleans. So far as I know, no entomologists were 

 sent to France on account of their entomological knowledge, 

 but many did go as private soldiers. A notable example was 

 H. L. Parker, who rose to a captaincy. Still later he got a 

 Doctorate from the University of Paris, and is at this time in 

 charge of the U. S. European Parasite Laboratory at Hyeres. 



Much of this I summed up, together with many other in- 

 stances in which the entomologists helped during those strenuous 

 times in an article entitled "Entomology and the War," pub- 

 lished in the Scientific Monthly} 



^Volume 8, No. 2, pp. 109-117, Feb. 1919. Repriflted in the Smithsonian 

 Annual Report for 1919, pp. 411-419, 1921. 



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