ZOOLOGY — HODGE, HOWARD. 22/ 



season. This line of experiment is now closed, and the result shows why the 

 ruffed grouse has never been domesticated. Of the remaining 23 reared in 

 the brooders, 2 escaped and were lost, 3 died as result of accidents, and one 

 lot of 8 were killed by overheating of a brooder. Invaluable knowledge and 

 experience, however, has been gained; the best headway of any year since 

 beginning the work in 1902 has been made. 



With the bob-white results are better and the knowledge of the species 

 gained is of much more practical value. A single pair were kept as house- 

 hold pets. Eighteen eggs were laid in a window cage, of which 1 1 hatched. 

 The hen was immature, a late chick of the fall before, which probably 

 accounts for the small number of eggs and the large percentage of infertility. 

 In addition to the above, 11 chicks were obtained from an incubator at the 

 State Game Commission's hatchery and 10 eggs from the same source. Again 

 the experiment of rearing one brood of 6 chicks with a hen was tried, and 

 all these sickened and died within the first week. Of the rest there are to 

 date 20 healthy young birds. Microscopical examinations, with bacterio- 

 logical cultures, have resulted in proving pretty conclusively that a parasitic 

 disease, contracted from the hen, has been the cause of fatalities. 



Howard, L. O., U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, District of 

 Columbia. Grant No. 250. Preparation of a monograph on American 

 mosquitoes. (For previous reports see Year Book No. 2, p. xlii; Year 

 Book No. 3, p. 138; Year Book No. 4, p. 279, and Year Book No. 5, 

 pp. 245, 246.) $3,000. 



Dr. Howard reports that very considerable progress has been made toward 

 the completion of the monograph ; a large amount of manuscript has been 

 completed, and very many illustrations have been prepared. After the funds 

 appropriated by the Institution were exhausted, it was realized that the 

 geographic field had not been thoroughly covered, and during the present 

 year, as during the year 1906, efforts have been made to complete the collec- 

 tion of material in all stages so as to make the monograph worthy of the 

 Institution and satisfactory to its authors. 



Dr. H. G. Dyar and Mr. Frederick Knab undertook at their own expense 

 an expedition to British Columbia to work out the full life-histories of cer- 

 tain species of mosquitoes known to exist there, and, with the assistance of 

 the Isthmian Canal Commission and the consent of the Honorable Secretary 

 of Agriculture, Mr. August Busck was sent to explore thoroughly the mos- 

 quito fauna of the Canal Zone. Previous to this expedition only seven species 

 of Culicidse were known from the Zone, but Mr. Busck returned with more 

 than ninety species, of which thirty were new to science. The previous 

 failure to secure proper material from the latter region was due to the fact 



