452 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 84 



contained species sent from Cuba by travelers and by residents. But 

 Cuban natural history was not at all well understood as a whole until 

 the days of Felipe Poey (1799-1891) and Juan (Johann) Gundlach 

 (1810-1896). 



Poey was born in Habana, studied in Paris as a young man, and 

 spent the rest of his life in Cuba. In one of his biographies it is stated 

 that he was one of the founders of the Entomological Society of 

 France. In the list of 35 founders in the Annals of this great Society 

 for 1832, occurs the entry, " Poey, Avocat a la Cour royale." If this 

 were indeed the Cuban Felipe Poey, he must have been a resident of 

 Paris at that time (at the age of 33). Poey was an indefatigable 

 naturalist, collected and wrote extensively, published several papers 

 on Cuban Lepidoptera, and was the author of a great '* Natural 

 History of Cuba." 



Gundlach was born in Magdeburg, went to Cuba in 1838, and, 

 indifferent to financial gain, spent his life collecting and studying 

 birds, fishes, and insects as well as other animals. He was in active 

 correspondence with scientific societies and museums in Europe and 

 the United States, and much of his collected material passed through 

 the hands of foreign specialists. In the i88o's he began to build up 

 the Museum of the Institute of Habana, and spent several years in 

 thorough collecting expeditions over the island. The years 1884-88 

 were spent largely in the museum at Habana, working over the 

 collections. 



The Cuban Agricultural Experiment Station (Estacion Experi- 

 mental Agronomica) at Santiago de las Vegas, Province of Habana, 

 was founded in 1904, and began operations on April i. I am indebted 

 to Mr. S. C. Bruner, Chief of the Department of Plant Pathology and 

 Entomology of this Station, for the following full account of applied 

 entomology in Cuba. 



The Department of Plant Pathology of the new Station included 

 both plant pathology proi:)€r and entomology. The head of this De- 

 partment was Dr. Mel. T. Cook who served until September, 1906; 

 the assistant of this Department was Mr. H. T. Home. While both 

 of these gentlemen were primarily plant pathologists, work in both 

 fields was carried out. In June, 1905, Bulletin No. i of the Station 

 was published, entitled " Insects and Diseases of Tobacco," by Doctor 

 Cook and Mr. Home. In the first report of the Estacion AgroncSmica 

 (1906), in the report of work of the Department of Plant Pathology 

 (period April, 1904, to June, 1905), Doctor Cook gives an account of 

 the very considerable amount of work done on the insects and diseases 

 of tobacco, coffee, orange and other fruits, corn, cotton, sugar cane, 

 vegetables, etc., although this was necessarily of a preliminary nature. 



