460 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 84 



The insect pests of the sugar cane provide the most important 

 entomological problems of the island, and the effort of a majority of 

 the workers of the two stations have been directed towards solving 

 these problems/ The major pests of tobacco, Citrus fruits, vegetables, 

 coffee, pineapples, and cotton have been studied, however, and are 

 the subjects of numerous publications. The comparatively recent dis- 

 covery that the mosaic disease of sugar cane is carried by Aphis 

 viaidis increases the importance of entomological work in the island. 



In 1925, Mr. Harold E. Box, an Englishman who had been doing 

 work in British Guiana, was made Entomologist to the Central 

 Aguirre Sugar Company of Porto Rico, and held the post for rather 

 more than two years, working mainly with the subject of sugar cane 

 borer control. While holding this position he visited Santo Domingo 

 and British Guiana and spent some time in Venezuela searching for 

 appropriate parasites for Porto Rico. In May, 1927, he joined the 

 staff of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Tucuman, Argentina, 

 where he has remained and where his main problem has been the 

 sugar cane borer. Mr Herbert Osborn, Jr., succeeded Mr. Box in 

 Porto Rico. 



Added note. — A natural history survey of Porto Rico and the 

 Virgin Islands has been conducted by the New York Academy of 

 Sciences and its results are now being published in cooperation with 

 the Government of Porto Rico. Volumes 11, 12, and 13 of this exten- 

 sive series of reports will be devoted to insects. Four portions of 

 Volumes 11 and 12 are in preparation as follows: The Diptera, by 

 C. H. Curran; the Heterocera (exclusive of the Geometridac and 

 Microlepidoptera), by William T. M. Forbes; The Geometridae and 

 Microlepidoptera, by William Schaus ; the Rhopalocera, by F. E. 

 Watson. 



HAITI 



The natural history of Haiti has been of great interest to a number 

 of naturalists, particularly during recent years. As a zoological field, 

 it possesses an interest possibly foremost in character among the 

 West Indian islands. The birds have been studied by James Bond and 

 Alexander Wetmore; the MoUusca by Paul Bartsch and the late 

 C. R. Orcutt ; the Reptilia by Thomas Barbour and Miss Doris 

 Cochran ; and Dr. William Beebe and his staff have studied the fishes, 

 sponges and other forms of the P(jrt-au-Prince Bay. 



' As late as 1928 Doctor Wolcott read an important paper before the I'ourtli 

 International Congress of Entomology which was entitled "Weather and the 

 Non-burning of Trash in Borer Control in Porto Rico." This was published 

 in the proceedings of the Congress. 



