400 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



NEW ZEALAND 



The naturalists who accompanied Captain Cook on his voyages of 

 1769-70 and 1773-74 collected some New Zealand insects, and the 

 species were later described by Fabricius and Swederus. Much 

 later expeditions incidentally collected New Zealand species, and 

 with the gradual settlement of the islands residents began to col- 

 lect and send specimens to England. Toward the latter part of the 

 nineteenth century entomologists resident there began to appear, 

 and W. M. Maskell and F. W. Hutton, for example, took up the 

 study of insects and described many species. 



Economic entomology made its first appearance in the 1890's 

 when T. W. Kirk was appointed Biologist to the State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. He organized the biological branch of the 

 Department which was destined to take the leading part in the 

 study of the economic problems of the country. Professor Kirk was 

 responsible for the study and recording of the major pests and for 

 the introduction of many beneficial insects, among them Novius cardi- 

 nalis against Iccrya purchasi, Rhizoviiis vcntralis against Eriococcus 

 coriaceus, and of bumblebees for the pollination of clover. In 1900 

 A. H. Cockayne joined the staff, and, on Kirk becoming Director of 

 Horticulture, he became biologist and held the oflfice until 1924. The 

 Biological Division of the Department of Agriculture grew into a 

 large organization, and in 191 6 David Miller was appointed to the 

 staff as Government Entomologist and organized a specific ento- 

 mological service for the Dominion. Outstanding investigations were 

 taken up on the pear midge (Perrisia pyri) , the grass grub {Odontria 

 cealandica) , the sheep maggot fly, and forest entomology. 



A wealthy and public-spirited citizen of Nelson, Mr. Thomas 

 Cawthron, died in 191 5 and left in his will something over a million 

 dollars to be devoted to scientific research. The Board of Trustees 

 decided to devote the income of most of this sum to scientific research 

 relating to agriculture, arranged quarters at Nelson and started re- 

 search operations in 1920. Dr. Robin J. Tillyard, an Englishman and 

 a graduate of Cambridge University, who had been connected with 

 the University of Sydney (Australia), was appointed to take charge 

 of the entomological work of the Institute. Tillyard began at once to 

 push the subject of niatural control, and, with the help of the Federal 

 Bureau of Entomology of the United States and the Imperial Bureau 

 of Entomology in London, began the importation of several para- 

 sites of several imported pests of importance. He achieved a notable 

 success against the wooly root-louse of the apple by means of the 

 importation of Aphelinus imJi from the United States, and in time 



