384 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 84 



In 1896 Victoria had passed legislation of this kind, and was fol- 

 lowed by New South Wales in 1897 ^^^^1 Western Australia in 1898. 

 Satisfactory legislation by South Australia was not passed until 1910. 



A brief but excellent account of economic entomology in Australia 

 was given by Mr. Walter W. Froggatt in his presidential address 

 before the Linnean Society of New South Wales for 1912. In this 

 address he pointed out that before any official Government entomolo- 

 gists were appointed, Sir William Macleay had contributed some notes 

 on insect pests to the Proceedings of the Linnean Society. Froggatt 

 states as his belief that the visits of Albert Koebele and F. M. Webster 

 to Australia on the famous journey that resulted in the importation 

 of the Australian ladybird into California aroused marked interest 

 in entomology and probably had an especial influence in the legisla- 

 tion wdiich followed soon after and which resulted in the appointment 

 of official entomologists in practically all of the colonies. This jour- 

 ney of Webster and Koebele took place in 1888, and not in 1880 as 

 stated by Mr. Froggatt in his address. 



The growth of the work in the different States will be described 

 briefly under each State in the following pages, but it should be 

 mentioned here that in July, 1906, a conference of Government Ento- 

 mologists was held at Sydney and was attended by representatives of 

 South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queens- 

 land. Western Australia was not represented. At that time that col- 

 ony was, jointly with the State of California, employing Mr. George 

 Compere to search the world for enemies of injurious insects, and 

 there seems to have been some considerable doubt in the minds of 

 the representatives of the other colonies as to the thorough soundness 

 of this procedure, or at least a fear of the danger of too great reliance 

 on what has since come to be known as the biological method of 

 control. (Mr. Compere's employment by Western Australia dates from 

 1901.) One of the principal subjects considered at this conference 

 was the enormous damage done by fruit-flies. After discussion, a 

 resolution was passed recommending the authorities of the different 

 States represented to send IMr. Froggatt to the United States to 

 inquire into entomological problems. This matter did not eventuate 

 until after a meeting of the Premiers of the different States, in Bris- 

 bane in June, 1907. It was then decided that he should be sent to 

 America and Europe, and later, at the request of Queensland, India 

 and Ceylon were added. Mr. Froggatt took the trip, and the report 

 of his investigations was published as a bulletin in 1909. It is proba- 

 bly worth while to state here that he did not endorse the then Cali- 



