FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



accompany the President of France on such occasions. On the 

 stage with the dignitaries and the officers of the Society were 

 seated the honorary members of the Society. I was thus ad- 

 mirably placed to see the great audience and the important 

 figures on the stage, since I was made an honorary member as 

 early as 1905. 



These Centenary exercises were held on Saturday, July i6th, 

 and on Sunday, the delegates paid a visit to the tomb of 

 Latreille, at Pere-la-Chaise. He was the first Honorary President 

 of the Society. 



The Fifth International Congress began on Monday the i8th, 

 and continued through the week. Dr. Paul Marchal was the 

 President. But since these congresses are all rather similar, I 

 shall not go into details here. It was, however, a distinct success. 

 And this success is the more remarkable since the whole world 

 is suffering an unprecedented financial blight. Many interna- 

 tional congresses scheduled for this year have been postponed 

 or abandoned. But the indomitable French entomologists carried 

 this one through in a perfect manner. In spite of everything the 

 attendance was large. Thirty-three countries were represented, 

 and four hundred and sixty persons were registered. Had it 

 not been for financial conditions, the attendance would probably 

 have been so large it would have taxed the ingenuity and hos- 

 pitality even of Paris, accustomed as it is to big functions. For 

 example, I am sure that under normal conditions, hundreds of 

 men would have come from America, instead of the forty-five 

 who actually attended; for certainly, at the close of the very 

 successful congress at Ithaca in August, 1928, almost every 

 American there made up his mind positively to come to Paris 

 in 1932. I know, for example, of one prominent American ento- 

 mologist and his wife who went home and at once engaged an 

 apartment with a French speaking family in order to practise 



[324] 



